The Backstage
by vixyw
Summary: Beneath the peaceful cover, the science and magic worlds are about to clash. And besides Kamijou Touma, many others were being forced to take sides in front of the upcoming war. What a a small gear ticking behind the curtains of this massive system called Academy City will do in midst of all this?
1. Night Chase

**Before anything else, be warned that this is my first attempt at a fanfic. I appreciate any feedback so I can improve my writing as the story goes on.**

* * *

 **I**

 **Chapter 1: The Other Side of a Certain Beginning**

 **Night_Chase**

Academy City was dyed in absolute darkness. Due to a certain unusual thunderstorm that had happened earlier that warm July night, a blackout made the streets of the 7th district look like a black maze, devoid of all people. Or it should be.

Two figures were running side by side in the dark sidewalk. One was a blonde girl with blue eyes wearing what looked like a black military uniform and a skirt. The other was a boy with messy dark brown hair, black eyes, wearing jeans and a gray unzipped jacket with a hood that waved violently behind him as he ran. Just to be clear, they weren't a couple. Nor friends. They shouldn't even be considered acquainted. Even though it was the very first day of summer vacation, they weren't hanging out like people of their age should be doing (or not, since it has long past the curfew). While they ran, three shadows just flew above the back alley on their left, going from the top of one building to another.

"There! Did you see that just now?!" Said the boy, while he pointed to where the shadows disappeared to.

"Yup, that's it~!" The blonde answered happily and reached for the communication device on her year. "Mugino, we found them! They are jumping on the rooftops! Ahahahaha, what a bunch of idiots!"

"Oi oi, what the hell is that? Did they really thought they could avoid being caught by going above our heads or something?" Said Mugino through the device. The 4th level 5 esper sounded astonished by the naivety of her targets.

"That super doesn't make any sense… during a blackout, it's super easier to hide on the ground where there are obviously no lights." This other voice belonged to Kinuhata Saiai, which was currently besides Mugino a few kilometers away from the other two.

"Heh, like I care. If they want so much to be prayed by us then why not fulfill their wish? Hey, Frenda, where are you and the time stopping brat right now? We're going to join you, so don't do anything stupid!"

"N-no way! There are only three of them, I can take care of it by myself!"

The boy could only sigh in annoyment. His name was Yamakazi Hishiro, a level 3 esper that worked within the dark side of the city - no, his position should be called as the gray zone instead. But at the moment, he was forced to cooperate with ITEM, the shady organization that did all kind of dirty jobs for the higher ups.

Their current task was supposed to be simple: eliminate the small group that broke into the city during the sudden blackout. However, they couldn't use their tracker Takitsubo Rikou, since her AIM Stalker wouldn't work on non espers, so they had to rely on Hishiro and his backup supporter to find the target. However, he never liked this temporary alliance to begin with, and Mugino's random insults only made things worse.

 _I should be the one taking care of it myself, dammit. More importantly, forget the target's weird actions, this whole mission never made any sense from the start. Is this city security so lax that a simple blackout is enough to people break in at ease like this? Something is not right…_

Ignoring his doubts (and Frenda who was still arguing with Mugino on the radio) for the moment, Hishiro did his best to keep up with the three fugitives above. Since there were no lights, they could lose them at any instant if they weren't careful enough.

"I'm going up there to keep them in sight." Said Hishiro as he headed to the emergency stairway of the nearest building that reached to the roof. Frenda almost tripped as she made a sudden turn in order to follow him, slightly irritated at his intentions to leave her behind. "W-wait, I'm going too!"

"No." A new voice came from the radio. "You keep pursuing from the ground, so the other two can join you more easily. We don't know what they are capable of yet, so we have to keep them under our eyes and strike with all of our firepower as soon as possible."

The calm voice came from Asuka Mayo, master of information breaking and digital warfare, which happened to be Hishiro's backup for a long time. She supposedly is a 26 years old level 1 pyrokinetic. "Supposedly", since nor Hishiro nor anyone else he knew has ever meet her personally.

The blond girl pouted at the orders she just received and reluctantly went back to running. "That's just unfair..."

"You were super planning to take them all out alone for the super bonus reward, weren't you?"

"T-THAT'S NOT IT! Money isn't everything I care ab-"

Pissed at the useless discussion, the boy disconnected from the shared call and focused on climbing the stairs. He could still communicate with Asuka through the private line, and that was all he needed. "You just HAD to make her mad, Asuka… There was no real problem in her coming along, right?"

"Oh - sorry Shiro, I didn't noticed you were enjoying being alone with the cute blond girl."

"Just shut up… Meltdowner and the Dark May girl could just blast those bastards from down there, we don't really need to regroup. I know you did that on purpose."

"And why would I do that~*?" He could almost hear her chuckling and winking on the other side. _Because you enjoy teasing people to death more than anyone else in this world. Why do you think I'm the only one left in the team? And… so what if she was cute?_

Clicking his tongue, he turned the shared call on again before she made any other annoying comment - probably that was her goal all along (luckily, the discussion had already ended). Once he reached the rooftop, he easily spotted the three silhouettes running a few buildings away from him: two of them were side by side, and the third was a few meters ahead of them.

"Huh?" Suddenly, something that looked like a fireball was shoot from one of the two behind, and it flew past the third into nothingness. It was just as if…

"What the hell? They aren't running away from us, they are chasing someone else… wait, was that just now an esper ability?"

All four females were shocked at his statement. Kinuhata was the first one to speak. "There can't be an esper among the invasors… could it be that we are super late and another team is taking care of it?"

"No, that's impossible." Mugino was the one to answer. "Sending in different groups without warning would just make a mess and ruin everything. It's probably just a random idiot trying to bank the hero… well, we can just ask them once we get them. If they survive, that is!"

As Hishiro kept pursuing, things got more and more weirder. He got close enough now to see that one of them was holding something like a pole or a very long sword, and was using it to attack even from distance.

"Frenda! Mugino and Kinuhata are almost reaching you! If you can change the enemy's route to west, you may be able to flank them from both sides!" Instructed Asuka, as she kept track of all of them trough the GPS.

"Leave it to me!" Frenda picked a couple of missiles from inside her skirt and threw them upwards. They ignited in mid air, tracing a line of light in the middle of the darkness as they flew up until they hit the corner for the next building and exploded. As expected, the targets were forced to make a turn and headed towards west. "Mugino, they are going right in your direction!"

"Great, we're going up as well!" Seems like the operation was going well. Everything was going to end soon. However…

All of a sudden, Hishiro heard a voice. "Wait, wait, you must not give a single step further, nyah~!" It didn't came from the device. Someone had just climbed up to the rooftop and was standing five meters ahead of him. He was forced to stop and broke into a cold sweat once he noticed who this person was.

Blond spiked hair. Sunglasses. Hawaiian shirt. A gun pointed to him. That was all the info he had to know to understand the terrible situation he was in. "Tsuchimikado… Motoharu…"

"So you know me? That makes things a lot easier." The boy nonchalantly smirked and pulled the hammer of his handgun. "You must know why I am here then."

Yes, he knew. Asuka had told him about Motoharu before. He had taken down many organizations that were suspected of betraying Academy City by the orders of who knows who. The scary part is that some of those were just labeled as "suspicious" after the job was done, without any proof or whatsoever. Not even Asuka could find out if they really did something wrong or if it was just cover up, and to hide information even from her was quite a feat. If he had come to erase them to cover some dirt up, then they were as good as dead right now.

 _Darn… this is bad. I can deal with bullets to some degree with my ability, but the problem is that he is not even trying to hide the fact that this gun is an obvious feint._ Hishiro assumed a defensive stance and observed each and every of the other boy's movements. "The city sent the legendary grim reaper after my neck, huh? I gotta say that I'm almost honored."

"Ahahahahahahah, calm down, will ya? I'm just kidding, just kidding." Tsuchimikado lowered his gun and walked a few steps forward. "I'm here just to ensure that no one is going to interfere with what's happening there, nyah. So if you wanna live, you can just turn around and go home."

 _What?!_ Kinuhata, Asuka and Frenda were hearing the whole conversation and were just as surprised as him. Stop chasing the invasors? THAT made no sense at all. "Sorry, but we got orders passed down from a member of the Board of Directors. We can't just back dow-"

"Ah, sure sure, about that." The reaper's smile looked wider and sinister by the second. "I have orders from the Chairman himself, so don't be afraid of desertion, got it?"

"SAY WHAT?!" Unbelievable. Why would the chairman want that? Hishiro didn't know what to do anymore. He turned his face to the windowless building, which was the only source of light this night - it probably had some kind isolated of generator.

"Let's abort mission Shiro." Said Asuka with a remorseful voice. "Whether he is telling the truth or not, we can't afford to lose you. You are our last field agent, so a tactical retreat is a viable option."

"BUT-" _Retreat when our goal is right in our grasp? And we can't be doing the wrong thing here, this has to be dealt with!_ Before he could finish, Tsuchimikado cut in.

"That's right, before I forget..." This time, he stopped smiling and asked with a cold voice. "Just who was the director that gave the order to harm our guests?"

The brown haired boy tried to make some sense of this whole situation. Somehow, it seemed like they were tricked into doing something that they shouldn't and now Tsuchimikado wanted to know who was the responsible for that. He couldn't just say who it was, or else he would be killed for sure. As he was searching for way to escape...

ZOOOOOOOOOOM

A beam just passed by, missing both males by centimeters. Hishiro could feel his skin burning from the heat and kneeled down holding his cheek, while Tsuchimikado just turned around without flinching. "Yo, number four! That's not a nice way to greet people, y'know?"

Mugino was standing on the corner of the next building with her hand stretched out, with Saiai on her side. "And he dares to talk back. You was supposed to take your ass away from here quickly if you knew I had arrived. I don't _miss_ junk that tries to get info on my clients twice, y'know?"

"Fu fu fu fu, oh my. Things would get ugly if I had to fight a level 5 here. Guess I'll leave for now, since my job here is already done". True enough, the 3 invasors were nowhere to be seen anymore. Tsuchimikado slowly walked away with a "see ya" and headed downstairs, while Kinuhata and Mugino jumped over to where Hishiro was.

"Can you stand?" Kinuhata offered him a hand and helped him getting up. "Thanks… What happened to our targets?"

"They are supper gone. The woman with a sword super hit the white robed person and he fell down. Then she and the other man just left to somewhere." Answered her while Mugino talked on the communicator with Frenda and Asuka.

"I see…" Hishiro sighed and thought over the whole situation again. The blackout, the invasion, the intruders fighting each other… Tsuchimikado had called them guests. Something big had just happened but he had no idea of what it was. Yet...

* * *

 **So, that's it for the introduction chapter... actually got a bit longer than what I expected. I hope it is at least OK.**

 **Some notes on what this is going to be about: As the title suggests, this is an what-if scenario on what could be happening behind the scenes of the main story line events. As the plot progresses, I might change the outcome of some events.**

 **About the two OCs, Hishiro and Asuka... well, I didn't really wanted to use any OC's on my first fic, but I couldn't find anyone in the cast that could play their role. I'm not sure if using OC's is a good thing or a bad habit, but just to be clear, they aren't going to be the main focus on all chapters. I want to explore the possibilities of "what could be happening to that person while this was going on?" and write some interactions between characters that don't usually interact in the series. Hishiro is there mainly to link those characters together (I do have some backstory and character development ready for him though, but I want to hear your opinion about him before bringing it to the story).**

 **Please tell me how well I did for my first time. I'm open to suggestions and criticism, no need to hold back!**


	2. Three Opposite Poles

**I**

 **Chapter 2: Gravitation** **Whirlpool**

 **Three_Opposite_Poles**

 **Part 1**

To better understand the facts, let's go back two days before the invasion. July 17.

There was a commotion in front of Green Mart. Two people were injured in an explosion that happened inside the shop a few minutes ago. One of the victims was a member of Judgement and it seemed that she was in a serious condition. Several members of Anti-Skill and Judgement were running an investigation on the cause of the explosion and they had captured a suspect - which happened to be Hishiro.

He was actually caught in the whole incident by pure coincidence. During an operation, he bumped into a boy with goggles called Banka, a member of another faction of the dark side of the city. Their goal was the same: attain a small USB drive that contained classified information. Banka used psychokinesis to steal the device from Hishiro's grasp and the situation soon escalated into a battle. Once Hishiro had the upper hand, the other boy tried to escape by running to a busy street and as he was about to get caught, the store exploded. Banka used the confusion to run away and Hishiro was held under custody of Judgement while he tried to look for him. Now he was handcuffed, and being questioned by a girl from Tokiwadai that introduced herself as Shirai Kuroko in a provisional space settled by Anti-Skill (that just had a plastic table and 2 plastic chairs) and without being able to call for help because his belongings were confiscated.

"So, are you going to confess?" Said the Tokiwadai lady with twin pigtails with a tone of arrogance.

"Aren't you jumping a few important steps? And by that I mean a LOT of them."

"I'm certainly not. It's your own fault for not having your ID in hands and refusing to give your name. Who else would do that besides the culprit?"

"I dunno. Me perhaps?"

The girl closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. She hated dealing with this kind of people the most. "Fine then. You will soon be taken to an Anti Skill station. They can confirm your identity by taking a sample of your DNA and matching it with the database, so let's put this aside for now…" Opening a single eye, she gave him a side look before continuing. "If you are not the culprit, then what exactly were you doing when the explosion occurred?"

With a straight look in his eyes, he answered coldly "I was just passing by."

"Just passing by?" There was clear doubt in her voice.

"Just passing by indeed."

"And why a passer by would be witnessed standing there right after the blast without running away nor calling for help?"

"...I was looking for someone."

"And who this person might be?"

Hishiro couldn't answer that one and looked down in silence. Kuroko got seriously mad as she struck both hands on the table and stood up "And you expect me to believe that you were looking for someone without saying who it is?! What now, are you going to tell me you don't know their name either?!"

 _I never said I expected you to believe it, idiot…_ Hishiro thought but didn't had the courage to say it out loud. The situation was bad enough as it was. Rolling his eyes, he quickly thought of a retort. "And you really believe that the culprit would be standing there near to the crime scene to appreciate the scenery and wait for the Anti-Skill to arrive?"

That was a good point, she thought. No, that's actually pretty obvious. Since he started to refuse to answer, she decided to assume that he was the culprit out of irritation and didn't thought the whole thing thoroughly. Before she could decide whether to apologize or press the matter further, two other female Judgement members came in. "Shirai-san, don't you think you are going too far? We just need to get information from witnesses, not to accuse them."

"Konori-sempai? Uiharu?" Kuroko panicked on being scolded by the older female. "B-but, you see… Anti-Skill had taken him as a suspect, and he refused to cooperate, and-"

"They took him in because YOU convinced them that he was dangerous, isn't that right? Anyone would think the same if they saw him restrained like that." The Tokiwadai lady bowed apologetically, but Hishiro only felt more angry for being reminded how he got shamefully defeated by a girl younger than him. Konori then turned to him and said with a smile as she took the handcuffs off. "Please forgive us. Everyone is agitated because our colleague got hurt in the incident."

"Are you going to let him go?" Kuroko asked dumbfounded.

This time, the smaller girl named Uiharu spoke. "I checked the recordings of nearby security cameras. He was just running towards the store when the explosion happened. The real culprit would never be so reckless to run right into the explosion he himself armed, so we and Anti-Skill concluded that he was innocent." That last sentence caught Hishiro's attention.

"The cameras… Excuse me, but do you mind if I take a look on these recordings?" The three judgment members looked at each other with a wry smile, expecting someone to answer. The one who did was Konori. "Well… it's not like it's confidential or anything, and it will probably be on the news tomorrow anyway, so I don't think there is a problem."

Uiharu placed the tablet-like device she was carrying on the table and touched the screen to display the video. As she said, Hishiro could be seen running on the sidewalk when the explosion happened, but that's was not what he was looking for. Just like he expected, the other boy could also been seen there. _Bingo! Seems like trying to escape to where the eyes of society could see you was a terrible mistake!_

"That's enough, thanks. Oh, could you please give my phone and earphones back? I need to make a call."

...

The only sound that came from the other side of the call was… a laugher. Asuka was laughing at him for five minutes non stop after he explained the situation to her. "You know… we are kind of wasting time here..."

"AHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, AHAHA, AHhhhhhh… Sorry sorry, but just to think that you were arrested… pff.. AHAHAHAHAHA!" Hishiro literally started to growl at that point. "Okay okay, sorry for that. Let's get down to business then. I'll check the cameras around the area you told me, just gimme a sec." And just as she said, the answer he was waiting for came fifteen seconds later. "Found him. After the blast, he turned 180 and headed to District 8… no wonder you lost him so quick, those are some evasive skills. He managed to pass through your blind spots and escaped to right where you both came from. This Banka is definitely a pro. I'll run a search on him right away after I send you the coordinates."

"Thanks Asuka." _Frankly, you could be so efficient if you weren't so annoying…_ As Hishiro was about to leave, the twin pig-tailed girl blocked his path.

"You are going after that boy with goggles, aren't you?"

"... How much you heard of my call just now?"

"Not much… but I saw enough in the recordings. You were pursuing him when the explosion happened."

"So… what about it?"

"Since you probably won't just give me the details, I'm coming with you."

The suggestion was so sudden and stupid that he couldn't help but frown. "Why do you even want that?"

"The timing of the explosion was just perfect to delay you and give him an opening. The others believe I'm thinking too much, but he is clearly a suspect."

The possibility not even crossed his mind up until now. _Come to think of it, that blast was really too convenient. Banka is a user of Psychokinesis… can he really do that? Perhaps with the help of some device… or some kind of bomb planted beforehand that he can trigger with his ability. But if that's the case..._

Several of these explosions have been happening around the city lately. Those incidents seemed too small to be considered some work of the dark side, but tracing back to when they started, the date seems to be just a week after the Breakdown that Hishiro was investigating had started as well.

Yes, the Breakdown. It's how the phenomenon that was currently happening in the dark side of the city was being called. It all began when a rumor about a crack in the system that runs behind the curtains of the city being discovered that could lead to the famous Imaginary Number District got spread. These rumors were kinda common every now and then and most of them were baseless, but this one had consistency. Because it was based on a report recently released by no other than Kihara Gensei, someone with heavy influence in the dark side that was supposed to be disappeared.

Since then, several mucky factions started to crawl away from the shadows where they normally hide, trying their luck on finding the Five Elements Institute in order to accomplish several goals. The most common one was to use destroy the Institute or use it in order to break the political structure that currently ruled the city. With so many criminals seeking the same thing, the dark side broke into complete chaos. Some are so desperate that they even forgot to keep their appearances and took more explicit actions, worsening the situation.

 _Are these blasts also part of it? If Banka really used it to escape just now, or have been using them for this long, it could mean that I'm not the only one after him… So it's possible that he got hold of something valuable that several factions are drooling to get their hands on._

"...hey, are you listening?"

"Huh? S-sure."

She wasn't convinced, as she summarized her point. "I'm just saying whatever all that was about, you seem to be a potential target of this incident and needs to be under protection for now. And I want to go after the suspect. So if we go together, I'll be killing two birds with one shot."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then Anti-Skill is going to escort you home and I'll go to District 8 alone. With Uiharu's help, I can track down exactly where he is hiding."

 _What a pain…_ As he thought that, he came up with an idea. _Though it may not be bad to let her restrain him just like she did to me. It was all his fault, after all. I can just ask what I want later and then kill him. Besides, Asuka will have to give some explanations later for the involvement of Judgement in the case. Yeah, that sounds satisfying._ His desire for this childish revenge made him reconsider her suggestion.

"I can't go home until I settle the score with that guy. And it's not like I can stop someone from Judgement from doing their work, right?"

Kuroko smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's a wise decision."

And so, they both dashed towards District 8 as the sunset slowly turned into evening.

 **Part 2**

"This seems to be the place..." Hishiro and Kuroko had arrived their destination. It looked like a shed that was located in the gap between hotels and could only be reached by going deep into a back alley. "Heh… so many luxurious buildings around and he had to be on the trashiest looking one. Fits him right, I guess."

"I wonder if we can break in without problem? I mean, it looks like illegal occupation instead of private property… By the way," Kuroko turned to Hishiro with a questioning tone "Why were you after him in the first place?"

"Huh, well… he stole something from a friend of mine. I just want it back." This was actually half truth.

"Is that so?" She didn't seemed suspicious this time. "Well then. I'll teleport inside and drag him out here. After tha- Hey, wait!"

He had already rushed ahead before she could finish and was about to barge in when she teleported right in front of him. The result was almost a magnificent crash as Hishiro managed to stop a few centimeters from her. "Wha- don't do that, dammit! What if I couldn't stop in time?"

"That's my line! What you think you're doing leaving me behind like that?"

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled sarcastically. "Not my fault if you're too slow. And besides, you were about to do the same, weren't you?" The Tokiwadai lady could only stare blankly. Before she had a chance to reply he continued. "This is my business, you got that? He stole me, made me get arrested and probably tried to blow me up. I'm not going to stay quiet waiting for someone else to solve my problems. I was okay with you coming along because that's your job, but don't get in my way."

Kuroko wasn't the kind of person to let a civilian walk into a battlefield, not even if they begged to. But the way he phrased it all made it impossible for her to simply deny him. Was it because of his determination? Did she felt intimidated by his words? Or did he reminded her of a certain roommate that would head into danger without think twice no matter how many times Kuroko warned her to stay away? She couldn't tell. She could only feel at a loss in front of this dilemma until she finally gave in.

"Honestly… why can't people in this city leave those situations to those who should handle it?" Hishiro answered with a 'no idea' like face and she couldn't help but sigh. "Fine… I'll try to keep you safe, but don't blame me if-"

"No need for that. I can handle myself just fine." The girl was starting to get annoyed at his cut-ins. She forcefully grabbed his hand (which made him comically flinch and blush for a second at the sudden action) and teleported them both to inside the hideout.

 **Part 3**

 _I was expecting to see at least 3 or 4 of them here, but… he is surprisingly alone. How careless can someone be?_ Hishiro and Kuroko were hiding behind a container inside the shed. The only other person inside was the boy with goggles, crouched down in the middle of the large space looking at the screen of a notebook placed on the floor. He was mumbling something - probably communicating with someone from his faction. _I hope he didn't had enough time to analyze the data inside that drive._

"His skill is psychokinesis, at least a level 3. With this many things around for him to use as ammo we can't let our guard down."

Kuroko nodded back at him and left their hiding spot. Hishiro kept hiding and watched as she got slightly far from him.

"Halt!" She yelled and Banka panickedly stood up turning around. "This is Judgement! You are under arrest for being suspect of-" Again, she didn't had the chance to finish. The boy focused on a steel box lying closeby and sent it flying at her.

 _Yeah, I knew this would happen. As if anyone from the dark side would wait for you to go through your protocols before attacking._ Restraining his urge to laugh at her, Hishiro dashed from the opposite side of the container, hoping to get Banka by surprise as Kuroko appeared behind him.

"Really, what a lady has to do to be heard until the end? Now I'm in a bad mood." She sent a kick at his ribs, but he reacted fast enough to jump to the side. Turning around, he threw a few iron plates in her direction. Since it was a sudden action, he didn't had the time to aim. Kuroko didn't needed to teleport away, she avoided them all by simply crouching.

That was enough, she thought. Hishiro jumped high and drop kicked Banka's back. Actually, it would have been easier to simply shot his legs with the pistol he was carrying, but he couldn't do that in front of a member of Judgement. Nor he wanted to go the easier route this time. He wanted to let some steam off in this fight. "Hi there! Remember about me?"

"B-bastard… Can't get me alone so you're getting help? And from Judgement?" The boy, that was sent flying a few meters forward, stood up and stared angrily at Hishiro. Upon closer inspection, he was severely bruised. It couldn't be from that attack just now, nor from the fight they had earlier ago. Did he got hurt during the explosion?

Without waiting for a reply, Banka controlled several small but heavy objects around the room and shot them at the two attackers. Kuroko quickly looked around for a safe spot and teleported to the top of a large steel box. Hishiro, however, didn't moved at all. Kuroko was about to yell at him when she noticed - he was smirking. That smile was almost filled with blood lust. _Does he intend to take that attack head on? Is he a masochist or something?_

At that moment, Hishiro clenched his eyes and swung his left hand horizontally. The space in front of him became distorted. To Kuroko, it was like looking at the asphalt during a hot day, or the heat effect that could be seen in TV programs when they were showing a desert. As soon as a hammer and a wooden board entered in contact with the phenomenon, they suddenly slowed down and then came to a stop, floating in mid air. She was slightly surprised at the scene and Banka clicked his tongue. "That again… Just what kind of power is that?"

"Null Inertia." Hishiro answered, full of arrogance. "No matter what you throw at me, as soon as it enters the area of effect, it will simply dissipate all its momentum until it stops like this." He relaxed his arm and the weird field disappeared - letting go the objects it had captured to the mercy of gravity, making them fall to the floor with an unpleasant loud sound. "In other words, my power is the worst possible match up for you. Just hand that thing over and surrender yourself to her."

Chuckling, Banka took a fews unsteady steps backwards. "Sorry, but I wouldn't be able to do that even if my life depended on it." He then jumped back and placed his two hands forward. Several things happened afterwards:

First, something like a brick came from up left in Hishiro's direction. He noticed it too late and barely had time to avoid getting hit, let alone use his ability. However, the attack wasn't directed at him, but to the notebook that was still on the floor. Then, alongside with the brick, many other objects fell above the notebook, crushing it beyond repair. Finally, a small cylinder fell in the base of the steel box where Kuroko was standing and exploded, sending her off balance and forcing her to teleport away. The explosion triggered several others in a chain reaction, causing some debris to fall from the roof, but it wasn't enough to send the whole building down. Once everything was over, Banka was nowhere to be seen.

"Not good, he was trying to escape all along!" Kuroko then suddenly vanished. Probably teleported outside to look for him. Hishiro ran over to the destroyed equipment but it was pointless. He couldn't even see if the drive was plugged in the notebook or if Banka had took it away, nor if he managed to find out its contents. _The main objective of the mission was to not let the information in that drive to fall under other organizations hands. If it got destroyed then great but… I have no proof if he copied it and sent to someone else. Can't count that one as a success._

He picked his phone and remembered he had turned it off - in case Asuka had seen him with Kuroko in the surveillance cameras, she would become all whiny and he didn't wanted to hear her complaints until everything was over. Switching it on, there was about 30 unanswered calls. "Oh crap..." He called Asuka right away.

"FINALLY Shiro! What the heck were you doing! I was trying to call you for so long!"

"Sorry. Couldn't answer you. Things got a bit violent around here." Again, another half truth.

"Anyway, listen up. Banka got intercepted before he got to that back alley. Two females ganged on him and took the target away."

"What?! Who are they?!"

"One was a blond haired girl that was heavily equipped with explosives. The other was using a reddish hood and seemed to be a powerful esper. Both are younger than you and-"

"I'm not interested in that! Get to the point! Which organization are them from and where are they right now?!"

"So harsh, Shirooo! I'm gonna cry..." Though she didn't sound like crying at all. "I couldn't find out about their organization yet. As for their location, they got into a van and went to an private salon in District 3. You're in the alley? It's too far to go by foot, we're deploying a vehicle for you."

He heard footsteps behind him and cut the call. It was Kuroko that just got back with an unsatisfied face. "He got us. I looked all around from above the buildings but there is no sign of him."

"Well, that's a shame..." Hiding his irritation, Hishiro turned to her. "I found what I was looking for lying around here, he probably hadn't the time to pick it up. Thanks for everything. I'm heading home now."

"Really?" He couldn't tell is she was surprised, disappointed or suspicious. "It can't be helped… I'm going to escort you back, just in case he is preparing for an ambush."

 _Darn… I need to get rid of her somehow…_ Looking around, trying to find an excuse to get away, his eyes stopped at her uniform. She caught him staring at her and asked. "Is there Something wrong?"

"I was just wondering… is it really okay for you? You're from Judgement and all, but didn't Tokiwadai had a strict curfew or something?"

Kuroko stopped on her tracks with a sudden jump, as if she had got struck by a lightning. He was right, she had completely forgot about that. She had to notify the dorm beforehand that she would be doing Judgement work this night. Hishiro noticed he had struck the head of the nail and grinned. "What is it? You look pale."

"Ah- ahahaha… ehehe… well… I-I'm sorry, but I really need to go now."

"No worries. I can defend myself if he dares to show up."

"I'm really sorry!" She bowed deeply and teleported away. The whole situation was amusing for him. _I guess it was worth it doing all that, after all._ Still with a stupid smile in his face, he left the building, heading for the next battle. That was going to be another long night.

* * *

 **And I went backwards in the second chapter, even if only for two days. Sorry for that, I promise I won't let the timeline get too confusing. Everything should go back to normal in one or two chapters. I just thought that the gravitation bombing incident (from Railgun Manga/Anime, for those who don't know) was perfect to bring Kuroko into the mix. She is dismissed for now, but this encounter will be important in the future.**

 **Anyway, for those who don't know or don't remember, Banka is a side character from the volume 15 of the light novels (which by the way, is my favorite of the Old Testament). What do you guys think about he suddenly showing up here? I'm not sure if I'm going to use him again in the future, so let me know if you want to see more of him. And at last - sorry if the battle was a bit underwhelming. He was already beaten by the time Hishiro and Kuroko got to him, so he would obviously want to escape quickly. Next chapter will be more action oriented, so stay tuned.**

 **At last, don't forget to review. I would like to know if you guys are enjoying it or if is there anything I should improve.**

 **See you all next time!**


	3. Infiltration

**I**

 **Chapter 3: Sneaky Cat in the Lion's Lair**

 **Infiltration**

 **Part 1**

"CHEERS!"

"That was a super success!"

"Good job, everyone."

The excited voices that echoed inside the van came from Frenda, Kinuhata and Mugino (which was holding a certain USB drive between her fingers).

"In the end, the mission got easy thanks to the star of the night: Takitsubo!"

"I did nothing, really. We were only able to complete the most crucial part of the plan thanks to you, Frenda, and Kinuhata as well."

"No, you were super cool, Takitsubo. No one else would be able to super pinpoint the right person among other 72 people by just monitoring their location."

Mugino couldn't help but smile with satisfaction while the others kept exchanging praises (and bragging a bit in Frenda's case). Savoring the taste of victory, she made a proposal. "We all deserve credit for this. Even Frenda didn't messed anything up this time. Since everyone worked so hard… what about we head to our hideout instead of the headquarters and celebrate? We can transfer all the data from there anyway."

Silence. The three of them widened their eyes and stared at Mugino with a blank look, making her uncomfortable. "What is it?"

Surprisingly, Takitsubo were the first one to build enough courage to ask. "Just… who are you?"

"Huh? What kind of question is that?"

"It's just… our leader would never propose that..."

"It's a super spy, for sure."

"Takitsubo! Use your power! We need to find the real one quick, or else we are basically dead! Who knows what kind of torture she would- Buhog!" Frenda was cut of with Mugino's heel on her gut.

"What the hell is all that about! I'm not a spy. Even I feel like rewarding you when you deserve. Besides, I'm really tired after all we had to do. Relaxing on the pool doesn't sound so bad."

"F-forgive me. I'm really sorry. I was wrong. Only the real Mugino could hit so hard from such angle- Guhah!"

"It's the real one, for sure."

"Frenda, are you still alive?" Takitsubo poked the cheeks of her friend, checking for any vital signals as the van changed their destination: the usual private saloon at District 3.

 **Part 2**

Hishiro looked up at the tall building in front of him. His enemy was positioned at the top of this tower, with his target on their hands.

"This feels like a cliche arcade game where you have to fight grunts all over town, climb the criminal skyscraper, punch their leader on the last floor until he falls from the window and rescues your kidnapped girlfriend."

"Except you have no girlfriend..." Mocked Asuka.

"Shut up. You know nothing about my personal life."

"Oh my, do you have a girlfriend Shiro?"

"..."

"Hehehe, Just as I thought ~*! Thanks for confirming it." He felt tempted to turn off the call right there, but he couldn't allow himself the luxury this time. Asuka continued. "By the way, there won't be any damsel in distress to warmly welcome your arrival up there. If you ask me, it's more like the evil tower guarded by the ancient dragon."

"Dragon… That's a creepy way to describe a level 5..." Hishiro smiled wryly and analyzed the surroundings of the said last dungeon. A normal person wouldn't be able to tell, but there were at least five or six under covered guards around the perimeter. Probably there would be even more inside, and those were just the underlings. "ITEM, huh..."

"Shiro, you shouldn't take them lightly." Warned Asuka with a serious tone. She only acted that way when someone on the field was in serious danger. "ITEM is a huge name within the dark side, one that even the Board of Directors may fear. Their combatants not only have more experience than you, they also are very well equipped to maximize their performance in battle. Actually… no one is going to blame you if you just step down now. There is a limit on how much a single person can do."

He could only sigh. He was outnumbered, under-powered and there is the possibility that they had already decrypted the files inside the drive, which would turn the whole operation into a pointless suicide. Even so… "I'll do it. I'll infiltrate, take the guards by surprise, isolate the members, defeat the mighty Meltdowner and retrieve the goddamn USB drive! You just sit there and watch the show!"

"You're hopeless… I love that side of you." Asuka let out a mad scientist like chuckle "Just be careful though. If ITEM is taking action, they are either doing it to keep some higher up in check or working as mercenaries for someone else. In the worst case scenario, they became traitors and will have to be killed, but that's beyond our current capacity... So you'll need to come back alive for the proper team to be mobilized against them."

"Don't worry, I won't overdo it." He turned his phone off to avoid being detected and walked towards the back entrance. Asuka had sent him the blueprints of the building beforehand, so he already knew which routes to take.

"Huh? This feels wrong..." Hishiro had brought some tools to pick the lock but the door was unlocked. "Is this a trap? Did they noticed I'm here and are luring me in to get captured?" He now was feeling even more tense than before, but he got inside anyway. Sneaking through the hallways, he reached the reception using the staff door right behind the receptionist and knocked him out with a single hit. Luckily, no one else was on the main hall since it was already late, but it was only a meter of time until someone noticed something was wrong - that was his time limit.

Reaching for the computer, he quickly checked which rooms were in use in this moment and the exact time when they got occupied. Private saloons ensured the privacy of their customers, so that was all he could hope to find in the database. If he matched those times with what Asuka told him earlier, he could narrow the possible rooms that ITEM could be using. Of course, there were also the possibility that their room wasn't registered in the database, but he had a backup plan if it came to that. Satisfied with what he found, Hishiro dashed towards the emergency stairway close to the entrance and began to climb up. He had to look for 3 rooms and take down anyone he came across in the way as soon as possible if he wanted to survive through this.

 **Part 3**

On the last floor of a certain private salon at district 3, all field members of ITEM were in their swimsuits. Even though it was past eight o'clock, the late summer heat was intense. The cold water of the swimming pool was blissful for those four girls after a day of hard work. Mugino had already swam for her heart's content and was now sitting on a chair, reading a magazine while she waited for the food she had ordered for everyone earlier. Frenda and Kinuhata were splashing water on each other, and Takitsubo was _floating_ in the pool.

"Kinuhata! It's unfair to use your Offense Armor to avoid my attacks!"

"Oh, my bad Frenda, I'm super sorry. But I can't help it, it's just an automatic reflex. You can use your super ability on me to even the odds if you want." She clearly had an evil grin on her face as she said that.

"You know it wouldn't help to begin with- blgah! Cough Cough! H-Hey! Using it to send this much water on my face is NOT reflex!" It was no use. The unfair battle was decided on raw power. Frenda could do nothing but surrender to the level 4 and walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"Toilet. I'll be right back"

...

When Frenda was about to leave the toilet, a hand blocked her mouth and she heard a male voice from behind. "Don't resist or I'll kill you." She tried to turn around and counterattack but her arms and legs wouldn't move at all, as if they were frozen in place. She glanced down and saw that the area around her wrists and heels looked distorted and blurred. The male continued. "I can stop any part of your body at will. If you don't do as I say, I'll stop your heart and you'll die in a matter of minutes."

Frenda then felt a hand placed on her back, roughly the height where her heart should be. It was as cold as the sharp blade of a knife touching her bare skin. Fear filled her whole body, almost like her heart had already stopped for a few seconds. She broke into a cold sweat and couldn't scream for help even after the hand was removed from her mouth. The mysterious male seemed satisfied with her submission. "Answer me. Are the other three on the room out there? All of them?". Frenda could only nod her head, still unable to see the face of this person. "Is there anyone else besides them there?" She shook her head negatively. "Which one of them is with the USB drive you stole?"

"N-None of us..."

"Don't you dare play dumb with me girl!" He whispered into her ear. "You'll regret if you do!"

"T-That's not what I meant! Please listen to me!" Frenda was on verge of tears. "No one is holding to it. We left It on a table on the other side of the room. Our liaison is decrypting and backing up the files right now."

"Tsk!" The male clicked his tongue loudly. "Pay attention. I need you to take the level 5 away for 10 minutes. No less than that, got it?"

"H-how am I supposed to do that?"

"That is up to you. She needs to leave this floor though. And don't try any funny tricks. I placed a nano device on you just now, so I can hear everything you say. I also have someone checking the cameras. One step out of the line and I'll blow up the nano device along with you."

She more or less understood the situation she was in. They had celebrated victory too soon.

...

When Frenda came back no one was inside the pool anymore. The other three were gathered together discussing something.

"It's been an hour or so… our order should had arrived already."

"Come to think of it, this is strange." Said Mugino while holding the inter-phone. "Their service had been flawless so far. But now not even the lines are working."

"Are they having super technical problems?"

 _T-this is my chance!_ Frenda gulped and spoke to Mugino. "Maybe someone should go down there to check it?"

"Good idea, Frenda. Go there and report for us later. Oh, and if the food is ready, bring it to us as well."

"What!? Why me!"

"Why not? The super idea was yours to begin with."

All of them cornered her in a matter of seconds. Her plan to survive was getting ruined right before her eyes. _Think Frenda, you can't let things end up like this!_

"B-But, Mugino! To begin with, I can't bring it all back by myself."

"What are you talking about? You always carry all those bombs and missiles around like it's nothing."

"That has nothing to do with this! I can't carry food the same way I carry my weapons!"

"Is that what they call plot convenience?"

"I see it all the time in some B movies. The director usually come up with a super lame excuse to try to cover it up later when he needs."

"That's not it!" The blonde was already stomping the ground like a kid throwing a tantrum. "My clothes have hidden pockets and compartments inside it! Don't you have any problem with me carrying your food under my skirt? And I'm not even wearing it right now!"

"Tsk, you're too noisy!" Mugino stood up clearly annoyed and dragged Frenda towards the exit. "Fine, I'll go with you! Happy now?!"

The girl felt relieved for a moment. Everything was going smoothly so far. Until…

"What the hell is that? The elevator is not working?" Mugino kept mashing the button besides the elevator door but there was no response. She would have used her meltdowner to forcefully open it if Frenda hadn't stopped her. "This is suspicious…"

With her eyes narrowed, she resigned and they both went down the emergency stairs.

 **Part 4**

All sound vanished. From inside the toilet, Hishiro started to count the seconds after Frenda and Mugino went away. He had no time to waste trying to calm himself now, but he couldn't act too soon, otherwise those two could notice that something was wrong and come back.

29\. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. The intruder took a deep breath and loaded his handgun. 39. He prepared himself to leave. And then…

…

All of a sudden, Takitsubo saw something running on the other side of the pool. She didn't even had enough time to turn her head and identify what it was when a loud gunshot echoed in the room. In the next instant, Kinuhata was standing right in front of her and there was a bullet on the floor.

The something was a brown haired male wearing jeans and an unzipped gray jacket with the hood hanging on his back (even though it wasn't the season for this kind of clothing). He looked surprised and stopped running.

Kinuhata glared at the male, her eyes filled with anger. "Even though it would just hit her shoulder slightly, it's super rude to shot a woman like this."

"Shoulder? Seems like my aim was a bit off then..." Hishiro retorted and grinned at Kinuhata and put the handgun on his back. "Anyway, it's not that I intended to kill her. I just wanted out of the game for now."

"And you think that I'll super spare your pathetic life because of that trash excuse?"

"Of course not." The hand he used to put the gun away was still on his back, but it seemed that it was holding something different. "That defensive ability of yours is quite something, you know that? Not even I am able to completely stop a bullet at full speed like this. Actually… I thought that only the number one level 5 could do it so easily."

Silence. It lasted for mere 5 seconds, but the tension and malice between the two was so high that it felt like an eternity. Kinuhata gave her last sentence.

"I don't know who you are or why you're here, but I'll kill you."

"Feel free to try."

Both of them took action at the same time. Hishiro resumed his run on the other side of the pool while Kinuhata turned around to lift a steel locker and throw it at him. He stopped on his tracks for a moment and swung his left hand high. The area around the locker became blurred and it stopped in mid air before falling into the water less than a second later.

Kinuhata got distracted by the unusual phenomenon, giving the intruder enough time to counterattack. "Let's see if you can stop this one!" He had another gun on his hand. It was way bigger than the last one, but still seemed to be a pistol. He mercilessly pulled the trigger and..

"Gah!" The bullet hit the middle of her forehead. It wasn't enough to break through her nitrogen armor, but it had so much force that it pushed her head back, making her neck bend backwards. _This firepower… was that an anti material bullet, said to be able to pierce through thick concrete? No, it felt stronger than that. It should be able to dig holes through layers of lead without problem. But that's impossible… A pistol shouldn't be able fire something like that. The recoil would be too much for the wielder to handle._

Indeed, Hishiro didn't looked completely unharmed after the shot and he was rubbing his upper arm with the other hand. But that gun should have enough power to send him flying back. Yet, there he was, ready to pull the trigger again. Clicking her tongue, Kinuhata jumped to the side as another shot hit the wall right behind where she was standing and started to run as well.

At this rate, both of them would end up clashing head on at the corner of the pool, and at close quarters Kinuhata had the advantage. Still, he was a few meters ahead of her, and his goal wasn't to confront her. _I wonder if he is after that?_ She threw a couple of objects she found among the way at him, hoping to slow him down but it wasn't enough. He simply dodged them all without needing to use his ability.

The intruder went past the poll and headed towards the corner of the room, that had a large sofa, a television, a table and a few gaming consoles. On that table the USB drive was attached to a transmission device that was sending its data over the network to ITEM's liaison. He reached it and forcefully pulled it out of the device, hoping to corrupt a few files in the process. Now he just had to escape- "What the…!"

Something came flying in his direction. Out of reflex, he closed his eyes and waved his hand, but it was already too late. Even though he used his ability, the ominous field was able to only lower the flying object's speed instead of completely stopping it. It struck the center of his body, sending him flying towards the wall, letting go everything he was holding on his hands.

"Were you really super after this?" Kinuhata picked the USB drive from the floor. "Is it really worth it going trough all this just for a piece of plastic smaller than your finger?"

"N-no… Cough Cough! Cough! Definitively not…" The boy stood up again. He looked at what had hit him. _The sofa? No wonder I couldn't stop it, this wasn't 5 meters away from me. My own fault for not noticing how close she was._ He licked the bit of blood that was streaming from the corner of his mouth and grinned at her. "But there are a lot of people that think this piece of trash is valuable and are doing a mess all over the city to get it, so I have no choice but secure it to make them stop. Also… seeing 4 girls having so much fun in the pool was worth enough to come this far, so I have nothing to complain about."

"Not only a thief, but a super pervert as well. At least you can say you had no regrets during your last moments." Kinuhata closed their distance in a single second and held her hand back, preparing a punch with enough destructive power to crush his skull. He managed to escape death by crouching and side stepping to the left.

"In that case, there are still a few things I still want to do!" Hishiro tried to kick her side, but his heel felt a heavy resistance before it could hit her. She took advantage of this opening and elbowed him on his right arm. He staggered back from the heavy impact, trying to ignore the pain, and dashed towards his canon pistol that was lying on the floor.

This was his trap. She would obviously be desperate to stop him from recovering the only weapon he could use to damage her. The moment she made a hard step to start running, the foot she was going to use to support her weight stopped moving for a short moment, making her crash on the floor.

"That movement just now was too predictable." He said, pointing the pistol he got back at her. "I need to pinpoint the future position of the ankle if I want to use my ability on someone running. It's not easy to do it when I don't know exactly what they are planning to do."

The impact it self wasn't a problem due to her offense armor, but the pain on her ankle was something. And it was tingling too much. She was no specialist but she thought that maybe it had something to do with her blood suddenly stop flowing. In summary, she couldn't get up on her feet anymore.

The boy walked to her and, while immobilizing all her limbs, he picked the USB drive from her hand. "Don't worry, I don't need to kill you either. One bullet for your other leg and another one for your right arm should be enough to keep you out of my way, so bear it for a little while." He pointed the gun at her again and placed his finger on the trigger. Kinuhata was already bracing herself - when it happened.

A beam of light came crossed the room and accurately hit the gun, melting a hole on it's side. No need to say it wouldn't ever going to fire again. The intruder let go the weapon once again on reflex of the burning sensation on his fingers.

"All I wanted was to take it easy for a while and you ruined it all. Good job." Mugino was the source of the attack. She, Frenda and Takitsubo were standing near to the entrance. "Are you prepared to bear with how mad I am now? Oh, don't answer, I don't even care if you aren't."

Kinuhata gave a faint smile at the sight of her teammates. "Mugino… your timing is super perfect."

"Thank Takitsubo for that. She came running down the emergency stairs calling for help."

"I see. I got so focused on her that I forgot about the other one." The intruder sighed. "What a stupid mistake, I'm ashamed of myself. Things sure got complicated now."

Mugino Shizuri, the #4 level 5, the dragon guarding the boss tower was now his enemy. And he wasn't able to at least finish off the minions. What could he possibly do in such situation?

 **Between the Lines**

There were never any documents regarding the birth of the dark side of the city, so it's hard to tell when it all began. Some believe that it surged when the first Kihara got into the city. Others think it was always there to begin with.

Indeed, the dark side is an important gear in the whole system. Originally, it was there for the sole purpose of protecting the patent of the researches within the walls from the envious and greedy hands of the outside. It didn't take long, however, for it to become the stage of researches that wouldn't be easily accepted by the general public, as well as the battlefield where all internal conflicts could be solved quietly in the shadows without spreading panic.

If anyone looked at an individual incident of the darkness, he or she would without a doubt call it inhuman and accuse the higher ups for letting such a thing to happen. But if they pictured the whole scene, it would become clear that it's not a simple matter of what is right or wrong. It is a matter of minimize losses that are unfortunately inevitable.

It's easy to accuse the use of animals, or even humans, on drugs experiments as a barbarity, but no one thinks about how many lives were sacrificed when their loved ones needs to take medications to stay alive. It's easy to accuse the murder of that person as brutal and unnecessary, but probably no one would stop the trigger from being pulled if they knew that that person could end the lives of many innocents by giving an order, flipping a switch, or even just for being there.

Whether people from Academy City likes it or not, the darkness is needed to keep the city functional. All countries in the world have some similar system in running on the backstage. Chaos needs to exist, it's only a choice of let it run wild or restrain it in the shadows while other people can live in peace.

It's for that purpose that a certain organization was founded by the board of directors: WATCH. They are the ones responsible to over watch the activity within the darkness of the city and finalize any research, organization or individual that goes beyond what's really necessary for the stability of society.

* * *

 **Sorry for the long wait! To be honest, this chapter proved to be a challenge for me to write.**

 **Then there was the release of the new Index volume this month and it got me busy for a while… sorry for that! The volume is great btw, for those who hadn't read it yet.**

 **Anyway, this chapter was supposed to be longer than that. I actually cut it in half so I could release an update as soon as possible. Didn't wanted to leave the fic abandoned for any longer (and the length of the next battles were getting out of hand, I might need to rethink it lol). To compensate for that, I wrote the 'Between the Lines' section. I'll be giving a bit of backstory from now on in these sections hoping you guys may figure out sooner or later where I am trying to get at.**

 **At last, please review if you have the time to spare. Your comments may give me ideas while writing, so it can help getting the next chapter out faster. I'll try to bring the next update next week, but I'm not really confident I'll be able to finish it by then… so no worries if it doesn't, I'm not abandoning this story any time soon.**


	4. Fool's Gold

**I**

 **Chapter 4: The Hunter, The Prey, and The Unrewarded**

 **Fool's_Gold**

 **Part 1**

Hishiro and Mugino glared at each other. There were about 20 meters of distance between them, but she could melt him away easily at this distance without giving him a chance to do anything. _This is bad… I need something… anything to get me an advantage, and I need it quickly!_

The level 5 talked to the blonde girl a few steps behind her without turning around. "Frenda! Get your weapons ready, we gonna get rid of this bug!"

"Well… Y-you know Mugino… It's not like I don't want to fight, but..." Frenda stammered while trying to find the right words. "He planted an explosive nanodevice on me a while ago. In the end, I can't do anything."

"W-What?!" All other members of ITEM said in unison.

"Hey Frenda." Mugino glanced at her from over her shoulder. "Don't tell me you were so pushy to not go alone down there because of..."

"Tee-hee..." She knew that trying to act cutely wouldn't save her from her punishment later, but there was really nothing she could do anymore.

"You damn traitor! And how did you let yourself get caught!"

"I-I'm so sorry! He appeared out of nowhere while I was in the toilet and got me from behind! I was completely defenseless!"

"..."

The shocking statement made all the pressure in the room get replaced by an almost endless awkward silence.

"As I thought… a super pervert."

"You there lying on the floor, shut up. No peeping is worth what I had to go through to get inside there. I really thought I was going to die." Hishiro had a frightening expression as he said that, enough to make Kinuhata not press the matter any further. "Anyway, the girl is right, I can blow her up at any moment. And at this distance, you would die as well."

Mugino took a step away from Frenda by sheer reflex. "The inter phone lines were cut, the elevator wasn't working… all of that makes sense now. Was it all your doing? Or is there someone else backing you?"

"... I have no obligation to answer that."

 _Elevator and phone lines? I haven't actually done nothing about that, but the misunderstanding does works on my favor._

"Whatever. Takitsubo can scan the area after I kill you so we can get anyone else that might be hiding around."

"Don't even think about it." The intruder retorted confidently. "I'll kill your blond friend before you have the chance to fire anything at me."

The grin that appeared on Mugino's face sent shivers down Hishiro's spine. He had never seen anything like that before. "Hoh, is that so? Then do it! Go ahead! You blast her and I open a few holes in your chest. That seems like a fair exchange for me."

"W-Wa-wa-what are saying, M-Mugino!" Flapping her arms despairingly, Frenda protested for her dear life. Yet, the cruel Level 5 didn't stop there.

"If you don't, then I'll kill her myself after I'm done with you… well not that you care, right?"

Silence fell once again. Frenda hopelessly kneeled down and seemed about to cry. Her other teammates could do nothing but stare at the scene, holding their breaths. "What are you waiting for, brat? Did your fear of death froze you? Or are you actually afraid to kill people? That would be pathetic at this point! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Or perhaps... " She continued on a lower tone. "it's not that you don't want to, but you actually CAN'T kill her?"

"... Tsk!" Hishiro clicked his tongue and picked his other gun back. Without a second of hesitation, he mercilessly fired several bullets at the three females on the other side of the poll. Mugino simply flipped her wrist and all shots melted away before hitting anything.

"Fweh?" The blonde girl tilted her head, unable to understand why the situation had developed this way. Mugino answered the questions in her mind without even looking at her.

"Say… have you ever questioned how exactly the bomb was planted? It was a bluff, Frenda. If a nanomachine capable of an explosion of this level really exists, it shouldn't be so easy to implant it into people without the proper equipment."

Indeed, all he had done was place his hand on her back. If a nanomachine bomb was in his palm back them… how could he be so sure it was safely placed? What if it was still in his hand? He could only find out once it exploded… which would be too late. That is not how nanomachines are handled. Usually, when one needs to be implanted into a human body, it is injected using a syringe. That's what Academy City does to espers that for some reason needs to leave the city, so they can be located all the time.

"He fooled you. Are you sure you're going to let him get away with this"

Wiping her tears, Frenda stood up again and answered her leader, filled with determination. "Of course not! Thanks Mugino! Hold him for a minute. In the end, I'll be the one blowing him up!"

 _It's super amazing at how she can be so scary and so inspiring at the same time._ Kinuhata was still lying on the floor and could only watch the whole scene unfold while Takitsubo fearlessly crossed the battlefield to reach her.

"Kinuhata, are you alright?"

"Mostly. My foot is super disabled, though."

Takitsubo helped her stand up and supported her friend on her shoulder. Her intention was to take her away from the battle, but Kinuhata stopped her from doing so. "We have to help Mugino. She is super stronger than him, but his ability can be troublesome. Also, he is super informed about us. Just like he had way to deal with my Offense Armor, he may have something prepared to take down Mugino as well."

…

Light beams and bullets were fired constantly in the room. Mugino melted away any shots that came too close to her without needing to stop her attacks, while Hishiro barely managed to dodge the death rays that never ceased as he ran for his life. It didn't take long for him to reach the opposite corner of the room. Without an escape route, all he could do to avoid getting hit by the next attack was aim for the shoot swinging his left hand and…

The beam stopped 50 centimeters away from him.

Mugino looked annoyed as she tried to analyze her enemy's ability "What now? Is this some kind of barrier?"

Null Inertia was an unique ability that may look a bit exaggerated from the outside, but actually it had several restrictions. Hishiro was a Level 3, so the area of effect, mass, speed of the target, number of targets, number of fields created... all of those were limited and had to be taken into consideration into his calculations every time he intended to use it. Meanwhile, Meltdowner was nothing more than electrons shot at extremely high speed, generating light and the deadly heat. At first the speed seems to be too much to be handled with Null Inertia, but when you get the mass of an electron and put it into the formula, it was easier to stop than a bullet from a regular handgun. Actually, Hishiro just had found out that. He had no confidence he could pull it off since he had no idea on how many electrons each beam contained - and because she was a Level 5 after all.

He had no time to feel relieved though.

Mugino let out an angry shout at him. "You think you can stop me with that? YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH!?" Then 3 more beams were shot at Hishiro who was still holding the first one. As soon as they entered the distorted field, he felt an intense pressure on his entire body, and it got heavier by the second as more and more electrons were targeted by his ability.

To worsen the situation, Frenda came back dressed in her battle attire carrying 3 missiles on each hand. She didn't waste a second to launch them in the air as they ignited and came flying at him. A direct hit by one of them would mean certain death.

Without any time to think, Hishiro tried release the beams and duck down beneath them, but that proved to be a mistake. "Gwaha!"

The moment the mass of electrons were freed, an explosion occurred and sent the crouched boy flying forward into the poll. He felt an intense pain and burning sensation on his back. It was probably on fire before he sank into the water. Luckily, the missiles got caught on the explosion as well and were blown away.

Mugino walked to the edge of the poll, intending to finish him off. However, a hand suddenly came out of the water, grabbed her ankle and pulled her in before she could react.

"Wha- AAAH!"

 _Your ability take quite some time to activate, doesn't it? So your weak spot is a point blank surprise attack!_ Hishiro climbed out of the poll as fast as he could and headed to the exit. The only one standing between him and his goal was Frenda, but he didn't had much time before the #4 would come after him. He dashed towards the blonde while she pulled two dolls from behind her.

"This is my payback!" Frenda threw both toys forward at the same time. Hishiro first thought was _I can't let it hit me_. Then he noticed that she wasn't aiming exactly at him. _It doesn't needs to hit me? Are those-_ It was already too late. The dolls exploded exactly at the same moment, one at each side. He tried to roll to avoid the blast, but even then, several fragments pierced his right shoulder and left leg.

The sharp pain made him fall onto the floor. Frenda walked nonchalantly to his side and repeatedly stomped on his head. "In the end, you're nothing but my prey- huh?" Suddenly, her foot got stuck in mid air. She had experienced this before - it was the boy's ability. The blonde tried to pull it out with all her strength once, twice, three times with no success. "Let-let me goooo!" On the fourth time though…

"Waaaaa!" The field wasn't there anymore. All the strength she had used worked against her, pulling her backwards and making her fall on her back.

Hishiro hurriedly stood up and ran to the exit once more (making sure to step over Frenda on his way). He was about to leave the room when someone called for him. "Aren't you forgetting something super important?"

Kinuhata (who was using Takitsubo's shoulder to stay on foot) was once again holding the USB Drive. _What? When did she… Did the explosion back then knocked it away from me?_

"Tsk!" Ignoring the pain and the blood leaking from his wounds, he charged at full speed at the females (once again stepping over the blond girl...) and aimed his handgun at them. However, they were just a distraction. Mugino had just climbed off the pool and sent a kick towards the boy.

In his mind, her leg moved in slow motion. _This is my only chance. If I dodge this, I won't be able to aim and shoot before she start using those beams again!_

All his focus was on his target now. He pulled the trigger… and the bullet barely scratched the right side of Takitsubo's hip. But that was painful enough to make her lose her balance, being unable to properly support her teammate. Kinuhata had no choice but to let go what she was holding to keep them both from falling.

Less than a second later, the brutal strike reached Hishiro, sending the intruder spinning in the air. However, he ignored the pain and used the centrifugal force to shot himself towards the USB drive sliding on the floor. Kinuhata noticed his intentions but she couldn't do anything to stop him in her situation. "Mugino! Don't let him!"

The #4 was already on her way to recover the device. Both her and Hishiro threw themselves on the floor, stretching their arms trying to reach it before the other could.

And…

The boy felt it. It was on his hand. He to stood up quickly and tried to leave as fast as possible, but… there was another hand grasping it. The long, delicate fingers belonged to the monster known as the Meltdowner that stood right before him.

"Let it go!"

"Let it go!"

Both tried to snatch it by force, but it was useless.

"Damn brat! I'll burn a hole through your gut if you don't-"

"Shut up! Don't move or I'll stop your heartbeat!"

"What nonsense is that?"

"My power isn't a barrier! I can stop things from moving, including your organs! I can kill everyone in this room from heart attack anytime!"

Frenda had recovered and was planning a surprise attack, but she gave up after hearing the threat. Actually, everyone was hesitating to making any abrupt move right now - even Mugino who glared at the boy with all the hate she could send with her eyes. "This is just another empty bluff!"

"Try your luck! I dare you!" Hishiro displayed an evil smirk. Mugino face became even more distorted but she didn't talk back.

Stalemate. Technical tie. That's how the situation could be described. None parties could do anything to take the upper hand. Actually, Mugino had the victory on her hands, but she had no confidence. His words seeded doubt in her mind and she didn't had the courage to risk taking a single step.

Yes, this was indeed another bluff. It was impossible for him to calculate where all their hearts would be and create 4 fields accurately at irregular angles and distances to accomplish what he just said. And even if he did, it wouldn't cause an instant death. Their heartbeats would slow down before coming to a stop, giving them a chance to counterattack.

 _I managed to survive somehow, but what now? I can't let this last too long or they might try something unexpected. I need to act now that they are hesitating! But… what the heck should I do?! I need more time to think..._

"If you don't believe me, ask to one of your friends to check your underlings in the lower floors. Though I stopped their lungs until they fainted instead. They weren't worth killing"

Then the anger on Mugino's face suddenly turned to confusion. "What bullshit are you talking about? This isn't our headquarters. The only members here are us."

"...huh?" Now the one confused was Hishiro. "This can't be right. I knocked dozens of agents inside the building on my way here."

"This has nothing to do with us!"

Something was wrong. Hishiro was feeling it since he arrived there, but he had ignored it up until now. _This doesn't make any sense… Were they just the facility security? No, that's impossible. Some of them were heavily armed._

"Then what were these people?"

"How the hell should I know?!"

At that moment, everything became dark. All lamps turned off.

"... Is this your doing as well?" Mugino sounded worried for a second as she asked.

"I wish it was..." Answered the boy. He was starting to understand what was going on. "Come to think of it, I had done nothing to the elevator or the inter phone. Also, the building back door was already unlocked when I arrived."

"Which means..." Frenda spoke, and everyone looked at the USB Drive at the same time. Someone else has come for it. And it wasn't just one like Hishiro.

 **Part 2**

Frenda held a pair of military binoculars as she looked down through the window. "We are surrounded. They are sealing all exits using Anti-Skill vehicles to keep any passerby away. By the looks of it, they evacuated everyone from the building aside from us."

"How many of them are there?" Asked Mugino in an annoyed tone. She and the other 2 girls were now properly dressed.

"Right now? About 15, but I saw several people going inside earlier, so I don't know the exact number. Also… " She made a short pause and slightly changed the direction she was looking at. "There are a lot unconscious soldiers leaving on stretchers. You really took them all out on your own?"

Hishiro felt embarrassed for some reason and looked away.

After the power got cut off, he and the members of ITEM moved for another room a few floors below. Here their position wasn't so obvious as it were on the last floor and they could get a glimpse on what was happening on the ground. But it didn't gave them much of an advantage. The only font of light they currently had were Hishiro's communication device (it used a different frequency than regular cell phones, so it couldn't be easily tracked) and a bright orb flying above Mugino's right shoulder. Not to mention that Kinuhata, Hishiro and Takitsubo were not in their top conditions to fight because of the injuries from their battle just now. Frenda and Mugino packed a lot of firepower alone, but having to face this many enemies at once while protecting the others (not counting Hishiro, they would probably just let him die) was not an easy task even for them.

"There." Kinuhata was kneeled down besides Takitsubo, treating the wound on her hip. "This should take care of it. You were lucky that his aiming is super sloppy."

"Thanks." The other girl answered emotionlessly. "But what about you?"

"Oh, you mean this?" She once again examined her bandaged ankle. "I can walk now, so it's getting better, but I shouldn't rely on it too much."

Watching the scene, Hishiro felt a hint of guilt inside him for second. But he wasn't naive enough to apologize or to regret it. He would probably be dead if he hadn't done what he did. He noticed Kinuhata approaching and turned away, hoping for her not to notice he was looking at them.

"Okay, let me see it." Kinuhata said to him with a straight face.

"What?"

"Take off your shirt and let me see it."

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Your back. It's been bothering you for a while now. I saw you being super blown away by Mugino's attack back there. It must be super painful."

"... It's not this bad, I don't need anything. Besides, you could kill me without a problem while I'm turned."

"Yeah, I could. But even though I hate to admit it, we might need your super skills to get out of this alive."

"So you really intend to take care of your enemy wounds?"

"If it's necessary for our survival, yes, I'll do it. C'mon, let me see it."

"Unbelievable..." He sighed and gave up. In fact, his back was hurting a lot since that explosion. The pain really could get in the way of what was about to come. He turned around and took off his jacket and shirt.

"Yeah… this looks super bad. There are burns everywhere." Her voice was clearly disgusted.

"Wow, that's encouraging..." He answered with a bitter smile. "It's all thanks to your friend there."

"Shut up and be glad for being alive, brat." Mugino retorted. "You might not get so lucky next time."

 _I hope there won't be a next time…_ As Hishiro thought this, he felt a small hand spreading something slimy on his back. The sensation was awkward, but it did alleviate the pain almost instantly. Kinuhata finished the improvised treatment and stepped back.

"Alright, this should be enough for now."

"Well then." Mugino stood up and everyone else gathered around the table. "We need a plan to get out of here. First of all, we need to know who we are dealing with. Takitsubo?"

The girl answered the request of her leader right away. "I already confirmed that there are no espers beyond us inside the building. We can be mostly sure that there are none among the attackers."

"23 of them were taken care off by this guy already, and there are 15 men disguised as Anti-Skill members in front of the building." Frenda added. "We can't be sure about how many are inside right now, but in the end, it gotta be at least more than 20."

"Unfortunately, they we can't get in contact with our liaison. They might supper intercept the signal if we tried with our phones." Kinuhata said and looked at the boy. "But there might be a chance if we use his."

"Give up." Hishiro quickly shot the idea down. "This device doesn't work like a normal cell phone. There is only one person I can get in contact with using this... But maybe she could be a big help to us right now."

…

After hearing the situation, Asuka sighed in annoyance.

"Really, I can't take my eyes away from you for a second, can I? How come you got yourself involved into this?"

"I just told you how."

"That's not what I meant."

"You think I'm doing this because I like it?"

Another sigh, this one was heavier than the last. "But it is kinda hilarious. You got in there searching for a damsel in distress and now the damsel in distress is you."

"I'll turn you into a damsel in distress. How does that sounds to you?"

"The idea turns me on, but unfortunately you will die of age before even finding me."

"Tsk!"

Frenda and Kinuhata tilted her heads and looked at each other after hearing the awkward bits of the conversation. Takitsubo was just spacing out and Mugino didn't seem to care at all.

"Anyway, Asuka." Hishiro tried to go back to the main point of the conversation. "We need to know who are those guys and we need an escape route. Looking at how well they were equipped, I believe that they are from BLOCK."

"No, that's not it." Asuka got into serious mode now. He could hear her typing violently fast on her keyboard. "Their gear alone isn't enough to determine who they are. Besides, BLOCK don't wear disguises during their operations. The pattern you described… sounds more like something LIZARD would come up with."

"LIZARD? Never heard of them before..."

"That's a good proof of how well they do their job. They excel in infiltration and undercover missions. Though recently they have been doing more _silencing_ than anything else. Why would they be after the imaginary number district is beyond me though."

"If you can't figure it out, then I fear no one can."

"About the escape route… I'm not sure about what might be happening inside the building, since there is no power, but by looking how the outside is, your best chance is to go down all the way to the third floor and jump off the window to the rooftop of the neighbor store. If you manage to do that without them noticing, it all comes to how discreet you are when you leave the store from the front door"

Hishiro couldn't help but smile at the idea. "Smart and stylish. Yup, that sounds satisfying. I knew I could count on you."

"What, are you flirting with me all of a sudden? You gotta be wanting something-"

"Ah, that's right, about that." He cut her out and quickly made an unreasonable request. "I'll be also counting on you to get me another AMCP because mine got wasted by the Meltdowner. Bye."

"I knew you wante- WHAT? The AMCP!? Do you even know how much it costs to-"

Without waiting for her to finish her complains, he hung up and explained the plan to the members of ITEM.

"So basically, all we have to do is fight our way to the third floor and them jump off when no one is looking?" Frenda confirmed. "I have no objections, but..." She then looked at the injured members.

"I can do it, no problem. I don't need to super land on my feet." Kinuhata shrugged.

"It might hurt, but I'll do it." Said takitsubo. There was a very faint hint of determination in her voice just now.

"It's settled then." Approved Mugino. Before they left, she picked up the USB drive on the table. "We just need to decide what to do with this."

"We should destroy it."Hishiro suggested while facing her with a serious expression. "If we fail by any reason, at least they won't get their hands on it."

Frenda protested. "But then, wouldn't all our efforts go to waste?"

Mugino stared at the device for a few seconds before clicking her tongue. "As much as I hate the idea, he is right. This is the only way we can be absolutely sure they won't take it away. And if we kept it, he might try something to snatch it away during the escape. I would rather avoid that. At any case, we have a backup of the contents already. Or some of it at least." Hishiro was annoyed by the last bit but he didn't complained. This wasn't the time to pick up a fight. Mugino disintegrated the precious item and headed towards the exit, followed by the others.

 **Part 3**

Everything went smoothly for the five of them… until they reached the 10th floor. Several armed men wearing Anti-Skill attire were blocking the emergency stairs below that point, and they didn't hesitate to shot as soon as the group got into their vision. Mugino quickly took the front line, disintegrating the rounds raining at them at a terrifying speed and Frenda launched 2 smoke grenades down the stairs. Hishiro reached for the door leading to the hallways of that floor.

This building had 4 emergency staircases located at each corner one of its 4 corners. As long as they didn't barricade all 4 of them at once at the same floor, it was possible to avoid having a direct confront by switching between them every time they hit a deadlock. However…

"Dammit! It's not opening!"

"Step aside!" Kinuhata approached from behind and pushed him away. Then she punched the door resulting in the whole wall being bended with the force of her strike. The second punch sent the door flying, knocking away furniture that was being used to seal the door, along with 6 armed men that were waiting on the other side.

"This way! Quickly!" Mugino and Frenda ceased their counterattack and headed for the passageway, followed by the others. Hishiro was once again amazed by how well their team came together. It reminded him of the time when he was a member of a squad of 6 instead of the lone last remaining member. _Heh, how pathetic. I should be glad to not need to deal with them anymore. And this is not the time to be nostalgic._

"They are following us." Takitsubo warned the group right before the barrage of bullets came for them, forcing the to turn in the corner to not get hit. Hishiro, who was behind them all, took his handgun and fired back. Even in the dark, he managed to hit two of them in the leg, one in the head and his last bullet hit the extinguisher on the wall, making it explode and delaying the remaining pursuers.

They safely arrived at the staircase and resumed their descend. A few seconds later their pursuers arrived, but they didn't went after them. Instead, they threw several grenades downwards, but they were pointless. Mugino intercepted them with her beams and even managed to hit one of the attackers.

They went straight down until they reached the 5th floor. Before they could go any further, an explosion happened and the debris blocked their path.

Frenda didn't seem bothered by the obstacle. "We just need to change our route again then."

"No, it won't be this easy this time." Hishiro had no confidence as he spoke. "Didn't you heard that just now? It wasn't just here. They probably exploded all other emergency routes… Do you think you can open the passage?" He asked Mugino.

"It's not a good idea to try. I don't know how deep the obstruction is, it would take quite a while to melt all that and it wouldn't be safe to cross it without waiting for the rocks to cool down. Damn, that's annoying!"

"Should we climb down the elevator pit then?" Suggested Kinuhata, but Hishiro shaked his head.

"That is our only obvious option, and thus it's a trap. They may try to lure us there and kill all of us while we are defenselessly climbing down."

Before they could discuss the matter any longer, they heard steps approaching from above.

"At any rate, we can't stay here anymore!" Frenda took initiative and headed towards the hallway.

However, what awaited for them outside was an ambush.

They were flanked by both sides of the hallway. Behind was the ones that had been on pursuit from before, plus what seemed to be everyone else that was on standby on above floors. On the front was probably all the remaining manpower LIZARD had deployed after them. The good news is that there wouldn't be anyone else to deal with once this battle was finished. That is, if they managed to win…

Mugino frantically fired laser beams against the front team, which was more numerous. She didn't even had to aim, no matter where she fired it was a sure hit on the human wall. But it was pointless as the ones that were shot down were quickly replaced - she couldn't even confirm if the ones that got hit were somehow alive or not. All that while being under constant enemy fire.

Meanwhile, Hishiro And Kinuhata struggled to keep the back team from advancing. She jumped ahead and intercepted most bullets coming their way with her Offence Armor, attacking with her fists when given the chance. He just kept shooting with his pistol, using his ability to slow down the remaining bullets as much as possible turning them into dodgeable and less harmful projectiles.

Frenda went back and forth between the two sides providing support with her missiles and bombs every time they were at a pinch. Takitsubo couldn't do anything in this long ranged battle with no enemy espers, so she watched everything from her cover and instructed Frenda when to act.

"Mugino is being forced into defensive. There are too many of the shooting at the same time."

"Gotcha!"

The blond girl hurled a stuffed toy into the enemy's line, which exploded before it could touch the floor, sending several man flying back. Mugino took the opening and started to attack again.

"I don't have much of those left… Damn, how long will this keep going!"

"I'm running out of ammo as well!" Hishiro shouted. If he loses his only way to fight back, their defense line would fall in minutes.

"Frenda, do you still have some of _those_?" Mugino asked without taking her eyes from the soldiers.

The blond girl quickly checked. "Just a pair of it… but are you sure? It will make a mess. In the end, we could die without knowing what had hit us if they keep shooting."

"We are dead anyway if we don't do anything!" The leader then pulled 4 card-like objects that resembled solar panels from her pocket and commanded. "Listen up! If you wanna live get down, shut your eyes, hold your breaths and then run when you hear a blast! Frenda, do it NOW!"

Her warning sent a chill down Hishiro's spine and he laid down almost instantly, following her instructions. Kinuhata and Takitsubo did the same. In that instant-

Frenda threw two cylindrical objects to both sides, landing near the foot of the men surrounding them. Mugino threw the objects she was holding as well, and fired a beam at each one of them. The result was like a show of fireworks: the 4 beams flashed through the cards and turned into about 40 light rays that rained on the attackers. But the important part was that they had hit the cylinders as well.

The noise caused by the blast was overwhelming. Hishiro felt it shaking his bones until it hurt. But the worse pain was at his eardrums. Ignoring all that, he stood up as fast as he could and ran without opening his eyes, stumbling several times into what he thought it was the wall or the soldiers. He kept running while holding his breath until his hands touched the wall at the very end of the hallway. From there he turned right and ran for a few more meters.

"Gaaah! Haaaaah!" He breathed in with difficulty when he couldn't hold on any longer. His senses were disoriented, but he forced himself to look behind to see if he was being followed. All he could find was Frenda gasping for air right beside him with her ears bleeding.

"Haaaah, haaaah! T-that was close! Haah…."

"Dammit! Just what the hell was that!" He yelled at her, surprised to almost be unable to hear his own voice.

"A special type of bomb. Instead of causing destruction with the shock wave, it uses intense sound waves and a poisonous gas to immobilizes people in open areas. It also brights a lot when detonated forcibly." She explained with a single eyelid open while wiping the blood coming from her ear with a handkerchief. "Basically, you could call it the world's most powerful stun grenade."

"DON'T MESS WITH ME! What kind of stun grenade uses poisonous gas! You could get us killed with that thing!"

"I know. It was Mugino's idea, not mine. Besides, we're safe now, so don't complain!"

 _Damn that dragon woman!_ He cursed countless times inside his mind, but he had to accept: the suicide tactic had worked. _Wait, had it really worked?_ "The others… what happened to them?"

"Dunno." Frenda answered nonchalantly. "For now, let's focus on getting to the third floor. I can't say for sure that we managed to take them all down with that, so we better hurry."

 _I can't even tell if she trust their skills too much or if she doesn't care at all…_ With a heavy sigh, Hishiro followed her. They headed to the room 2 floors above the one they had to be to jump out of the building.

"So… what's your plan?"

"Kihihihi~* You wanna know? It's an amazing idea I had back when we were cornered." She said proudly with an impish smile. Hishiro had a bad feeling about this…"So, we are on the right side of the building, but on the wrong floor, right? We can't go down with regular means, so we will open our path _right here and now_!" And she pointed towards the floor. He understood what she meant right away.

"Are you insane? You just almost exploded us all! You are really willing to blow up the ground under our feet after all this?!"

"Don't worry, I won't be using bombs. Instead..." She then pulled something that looked like duct tape from her skirt and winked at him. Before the boy could ask any further, she went right to work, sticking the tape all around the room. After a few minutes she finally stopped and left the room, pulling Hishiro with her.

"Right. Now all we need is a spark." Using another tool, the girl ignited the edge of the tape network she had built and…the spark quickly ran through the line, spread all around the bifurcations covering the room with a faint light. Suddenly, the floor crumbled right before their eyes. No, it was more like it was cut down from the walls that were supporting it.

"TA DA! The fourth floor is reachable now!"

Hishiro could just stand there, astonished by the sudden display of destruction. "You're really insane… but I can't say I hate your way of doing things. "

Together, they jumped down into the lower room. It wasn't a clean fall with all the debris around, but it was manageable. All they had to do now was repeat the process once more and leave through the window. However, they heard several footsteps coming from the hallway.

"No way… They still had even more people stationed in this floor as well?" Said Frenda in disbelief.

"Crap, we don't have time to do it again. We will have to jump from here."

"What!?" The girl protested while he opened the window and prepared to jump. "Isn't it too high?!"

"Just about 5 meters higher than we were supposed to." Hishiro glanced down the window and lost his confidence. The store Asuka talked about was way shorter than what he was expecting. Even jumping from the 3rd floor could be a problem. But they had no time to back down now. "Are you ready?"

"Of- of course not!"

"It's either hope not to die from the fall or hope not to get shot by them."

"But-but, even if you say that..."

"I'll count to three."

"Wait! Wait a second!"

"One.."

"I'm telling you to wait!"

"Two…"

"Please listen to me!"

"Three!" Hishiro turned away from the window and picked Frenda up. He really intended to princess carry her out of the window.

"Kyaah! Wa-wa-wa-wa-what do you think you're do- WHAAAAAAAAAAA!" Before she could protest any longer, he jumped towards the neighboring building. In the middle of their fall, the boy clenched his eyes and activated his ability around their bodies. It was impossible to breath inside it, and their organs, such as their heart, would completely stop if they stayed there for too long (comically, Frenda's screen also got suddenly silenced). Their falling speed decreased considerably until they finally crossed the whole field and "landed" on the rooftop.

"Ouch!"

"Gyaah!"

As soon as Hishiro's feet touched the roof, he lost balance due the speed and the two of them rolled several meters before finally coming to a stop near the opposite edge of the building. Frenda was the one sent further away, almost falling from the top of the store.

"Ugh... This certainly wasn't as heroic as I thought it would be…" The boy regretted as he stood up. The pain on his back and limbs had came back, worse than before, but he ignored it for now and walked to the blond girl that hasn't got up yet.

"Hey... are you alive there?"

Without moving or even making eye contact, she answered lifelessly. "I'm not sure... am I?"

"Seems like it."

"That just now... you shouldn't treat a lady like that."

"How should have I done it?"

"You have to be more gentle."

"It's not fun enough if it's not rough."

"But it really hurts…"

"Yeah, I know... sorry about that. I just hope they didn't heard anything, or else they'll come after us. You sure made a lot of noise in the end."

"…"

"..."

Hishiro cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject before the conversation became even more weird. "A-anyway, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. It'll be troublesome once they start looking for us. Can you stand up?"

She got onto her feet with his help and both went into the store. If they could leave by the front door without being noticed by the ones surrounding the private saloon, they were safe. After all that happened, it was a simple task.

There was a hooded person waiting for them near the exit.

"Kinuhata?"

"Yo. You two took your super time to get here."

The two girls seemed relieved to see each other safe. "What about Mugino and Takitsubo?"

"They went ahead and told me to wait for you."

"How did you escape?"

"The windows." She answered like it was obvious. "We climbed down two floors by the outside. The rest was super easy."

Hishiro's body jerked after listening. _I actually thought of doing that, but there was no way in hell I would climb a building from the outside ever again in my life._

Without paying him any heed, Kinuhata continued to speak. "We should get going. By the way, Mugino told me to bring our super prisoner along."

"Prisoner, huh..." The boy sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I still have one last matter to clear up, so I guess I'll play along for now."

...

The five of them reunited inside the van parked at an empty street. Besides them, ITEM liaison and Asuka were also participating in the discussion through the van's telephone and Hishiro's communication device. The latter let out a heavy sigh after hearing what happened. "What a mess. So, you were just trying to scavenge a particular password that was supposed to be among the files?"

"Yes, but it seems it was all in vain." Answered the woman in the phone. "It was a fake alarm. Among the files that weren't damaged, none of them had any info on the Imaginary Number District or the Five Elements Institute."

"Tch..." Mugino clicked her tongue in annoyance. She was clearly pissed off. "What kind of sick joke is this? You know what we had to go through because of that crap?"

"We were the lucky ones." Kinuhata cut in. She didn't look pleased either. "A lot have super died trying to get their hands on it."

Hishiro remembered about the LIZARD soldiers they had fought an hour ago. At least dozens of them must have died in the battle. _Come to think of it, their behavior was really odd. They knew that our attacks were lethal, and they saw several getting hurt or even dying, yet they kept coming at us like it was a suicide mission. Was the Imaginary Number District more important for them than their own lives?_ He pushed the thought aside for now and focused on the conversation. "Well then, what really was inside that USB drive?"

"About that..." The woman made a small pause before continuing. "Well... I'm not really sure myself. It was full of terms such as Anglican Church, Magic and Grimoires."

"What the hell?"

Everyone reacted in a similar way. It made no sense at all. Had they really fought with their lives for something like this? The liaison continued to explain. "Of course, it probably didn't meant those words literally. It has to be some kind of code so only those involved would understand. After reading it all, my best guess is that it was about ambassadors from England coming into Academy City in secret, and someone being interested in the technology they were bringing with them."

"That sounds super fishy..." Kinuhata said what probably everyone was thinking.

However, Mugino simply rested her head on the window and shot the interest of her team down. "Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with us anymore. We already wasted too much time with this."

But it wasn't over yet. Even if she wanted to ignore it and leave it alone, all of them were already too involved to step back, wherever they wanted or not. Soon, a blackout would happen, the city would be invaded and they would be once again be dragged into a darkness much deeper than they would ever have imagined.

 **Between the Lines**

WATCH. Once it was among the biggest organizations in the darkness of the city. It was divided into 2 teams: the intelligence team (known as GEAR), responsible for gathering info on everything that happened in the city, and the field team (known as Clock-Hand or POINTER), that took action once GEAR concluded that it was necessary.

GEAR had hundreds of members, from spies that joined ominous research facilities on other underground groups to investigate, to the best hackers you could find in the world. Most of the time, they managed to solve all the issues on their own by sabotage or negotiations, so Clock-Hand turned into an elite group that never had more than 7 members and rarely took action.

In a matter of a few decades, WATCH had attained way too much power. They had agents spread all over the city, even within official organizations such as schools, laboratories, industries, even Anti-skill and Judgment. They started to get involved with many subjects that were beyond their original objective and the board of directors concluded that they were a menace. By the label of cutting off unnecessary expenses, GEAR was disbanded and only 2 operatives were attached into Clock-Hand. It was a fact that GEAR was the pillar that kept WATCH in operation, and only 2 people were far from enough to keep up with what was needed to deal with all the information gathering and filtering, not to mention that the directors usually exerted pressure over them to disturb their actions. They barely managed to keep going. Finally, 20 years ago, the directors disbanded WATCH as a whole. Their last activity was a desperate and failed attempt to put an end to a _certain project_ that involved organizations from the outside of the city.

* * *

 **First of all, sorry for the wait. I take way too long to write the action parts... lol. But even so, they were very fun to write, I hope you enjoyed reading them as well. Next chapter we will finally be back to the present (no pun intended). It won't have any fights, so it should be released faster.**

 **Replying to the last reviews I got: thanks for warning me about the summary, I'll be fixing it right away. Didn't noticed it got messed up...**

 **And for those curious about Tsuchimikado's business: don't worry, I'll cover it up in more details later on. He is a character that works behind the scenes most of the time, so he is the perfect candidate to appear in a story about the backstage of the series, right? Expect him to show up a lot in the future, even if he is not among the main characters.**

 **Please continue to give me your support. Reviews are always welcome!**


	5. First Sin

**I**

 **Chapter 5: Fallen From The Heavens**

 **First_Sin**

 **Part 1**

July 20, 11:31 am.

Hishiro woke up inside a messy room with the sunlight on his face. The exhaustion caused by the events of last night haven't gone away yet. He wished he could sleep more, but the damn sunlight made his mind completely awake, so it was futile to even try. Giving up, he forced his body out of the mattress badly arranged on the floor.

This was his secret hideout, located at an abandoned area of District 10, popularly known as STRANGE. He could choose to stay at the school dorm, or at the luxurious room he earned from his job (and he actually used it from time to time), but he had a reason to pick this place over the others. The easiest way to reach it, he had to enter an old looking building by the window facing a back alley, climb the stairs up to the second floor, walk down a few steps of another staircase, pass through a hidden passage on the wall and go to the 5th room of the narrow hallway. There really weren't any other way to get there (unless he decided to get in through the 3rd floor window). It may sound troublesome, especially taking the fact that the area was frequented by members of Skill-Out into consideration. But it was exactly because of those difficulties that this place was perfect. No one would go through the trouble of coming all the way here to search for him. It was the only place of the city he felt really safe.

The room barely had the essential for living. Aside from the mattress, there was a small old refrigerator, a microwave oven, a sink with no faucet, a toilet, a large tube TV, a few books plied on the floor and a desktop computer. Even though it had power supply, there was no piped water, so he had to buy and bring mineral water every now and then. But that was hardly a problem, since he didn't spent much time indoors anyway.

After changing clothes and picking up a sandwich in the refrigerator, Hishiro turned on his computer, intending to check some news websites. His goal was to see what was being said about yesterday's incident.

"Let's see... Last night, around 8 PM a sudden electrical discharge happened inside District 7, damaging the power supply system which resulted in a massive blackout. The responsible company has been working during this down to repair the lines, but several parts of district 7 and a few neighbor districts still don't have power, and there is no prevision of when the situation will be normalized. According to the company, the causes of the discharge are yet unknown… Hah! What a bunch of bullshit."

It was an obvious cover up. He was sure that if he ran a research on that company name, a lot of dirty contradictions would come up, but it would only be a waste of time since the info would be useless. The boy sighed heavily, quickly devoured the sandwich and decided to head outside to breath some fresh air. It was the first day of summer break after all.

Before he could turn of the PC, a window splashed on the screen. You have received an urgent E-mail - was what it said, but he knew it wasn't urgent and who had sent it.

From: Akaku

Subject: Check this out!1!1!

Akaku was the nickname Asuka used on the net. The content of the message was a single short link. Hishiro grunted and hesitated to click on it. Who knows what the heck that woman had sent him?

"... whatever. If it's a trap, I'll play a prank on her that she won't forget anytime soon." Determined, he clicked on the link. It led to a infamous forum page where people usually discussed conspiracy theories and stuff. The subject of the page in question was interesting at the very least.

The topic being discussed was Kaitabi Hatsuya, which was arrested as the main suspect of the Gravitation Bombing Incident a few days ago. It said that he had fallen into a comatose because of continuous use of the Level Upper, but there was no evidence nor whatsoever.

The sudden comatose stuff was creepy, but he felt glad that the culprit was caught. He did got directly involved in one of these explosions after all. Just for the sake of it, he opened the searching tool and typed the words "comatose" and "Level Upper". _We were not supposed to be formally investigating this. The higher ups made we stop before saying that it was already being dealt with._ His finger hit pressed the Enter key anyway and... "What the hell?"

There was a scary number of hits. If they were about the same incident it would be fine, but that wasn't the case. It seemed like there were already several victims. A few even mentioned that the Level Upper was a failed experiment produced by the 5 Elements Institute. "Haha... how in the world can you consider this as being dealt with?"

Hishiro maximized the e-mail window once again and replied the message.

From: Blankspace

To: Akaku

Subject: RE: Check this out!1!1!

That's messed up. Lots of people are collapsing. Glad I rejected your idea to try the L.U. back then when you found it. But the situation is scaling. Why they don't let us handle it?

The reply arrived in less than five minutes

From: Akaku

Subject: RE:RE: Check this out!1!1!

Beats me. The team in charge gotta be really incompetent. Or they don't want anyone involved, just like yesterday.

 _In other words… is this whole incident happening because they want it to happen? Why?_ The idea sounded macabre, but no one who ever stepped in the darkness could just pass it as nonsense. It was possible that someone was benefiting from it… though Hishiro had no idea what kind of benefit could be achieved by a bunch of low level espers collapsing. Unless it really was a failed experiment from the 5 Elements Institute - but that would link to the Breakdown, placing him and Asuka into a situation where they would be unable to continue their work due to the non interference rule. He pushed the thought away for now and continued reading the message.

On a more bright topic, your horoscope says that those you'll meet up with today are going to be long term partners for you. Fight on, Shiro! You might find a girlfriend today!

"... As if. Well, my own fault for believing that I could keep a serious conversation with you for longer than this." He felt glad they weren't talking by phone now. He could almost hear she saying "What, did I hit a nerve or something?". Frustrated, the boy turned off the machine and left the room

 **Part 2**

 _Idiot. I'm an idiot._

 _Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupiiiiiiiiid!_

 _How could I make such mistake? How could I have forgotten? Me, of all people?_

Those words kept popping inside the girl's head as she walked through the streets. Other people looked at her like she was some kind of alien being, which was comprehensible. No one here was used to seeing someone of her kind.

 _Sure, the events of this morning made me confused and all…. But even so, am I so weak to be shaken just from that? Worse, I blamed him for everything. Well, it was mostly his own fault for being so stubborn that the situation developed in this weird way, but I didn't need to do what I have done to him… and just for thinking about it is making my head spin!_

Her face felt hot. Hot, hot hot hot hot, so hot... It was like she was blushing from the top of her forehead to the tip of her toes. The embarrassing memory was just too much for her to handle.

 _Now I have to go all the way back there to take it back, and because of that I'm putting the life of the innocent people of this city in danger. They have nothing to do with this. It's all my fault for being an idiot. Why this had to happen?_

She had to hurry. Yet, she couldn't run. If she did, she would stand out too much, more than she already did. Thus, _they_ would find her. The situation was so helpless that she barely could stand the irritation eating her up from the inside.

The girl was all alone. Surrounded by 2.3 million people, yet she was alone in a place she wasn't used to. There was so much she didn't understand. And she couldn't ask for help. She couldn't allow herself to do so. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if anyone got involved. All she could do was sigh and keeping fighting on her own. For her sake. For the sake of all these people. Maybe even for the sake of the world itself.

"I wonder if he is still there..." The answer was obviously no. That unfortunate boy was busy today, he must have left hours ago. _Why am I even thinking about him anyway?_

 **Part 3**

"Haaaaah… No use. This isn't satisfying at all…" Annoyed, the boy gave up and turned away from the arcade machine. Everything was going fine until the cheap boss appeared and wiped away all of his coins.

 _I should have seen this coming. The last entry in the series was also the same, with a huge difficulty spike all of a sudden just to rob your money._ Sighing once again, he left the arcade. It was almost 1 PM and he yet had to have lunch.

…

"Uuuuhhh… I'm tired… and hungry..." The girl was walking for several hours and she knew that she was only halfway to her destination. The exhaustion of everything that had been happening was starting to get to her. Though there was no time to worry about such things…

*Grumble*

"Uhhh..."

To make everything worse, there were several food stalls and establishments on the street she was walking right now. People were having a good time, eating and talking to each other without a worry in the world. She alone was not allowed to have the luxury.

…

At first, Hishiro intended to eat nearby the arcade to save time. However, it was the first day of summer break, there was no need to worry about time, so he decided to go to District 18 and eat in a restaurant he didn't got to in a long time. By bus, it took about 20 minutes to get to the district, and from the stop it would take more 10 minutes walking. He was almost there when it happened.

The girl walked without paying much attention and turned right on the crossroad.

The boy, lost in thought, turned left in the crossroad.

They bumped on each other head on.

"Agh!"

"Ow!"

Hishiro took a few steps back, surprised at what happened. Then, he finally saw what he had bumped into. It was a girl wearing some kind of white robe. She was short, probably about 14 or 15 years old, had green eyes and long silver hair. The first word that crossed his mind that described the figure was "angel". Her innocent beauty made his heart skip a beat and his body froze in place.

The girl was lying on her butt, staring at him. Neither did anything for many seconds, until her expression finally changed. She looked like she was about to cry. Hishiro finally snapped out of his paralyzed state and offered her a hand to help her stand up. "Sorry, I didn't see you. Are you alright?"

She wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and took his hand. "N-no, it was my fault. I wasn't looking. I'm sorry."

Studying her figure again, the boy froze one more time. Her robe had some kind of religious feeling to it, he had never seen anything like that before. And it had several pins holding it together. There was something bothering him about it… it looked weird, sure, but that wasn't it. It felt like he was missing something important.

*Grumble*

"... uhhhh..."

The loud noise broke Hishiro's trance. The girl looked like she wanted to leave, but was torn between doing so or asking for food. _No. I shouldn't. If Asuka somehow finds out that I fed a random girl I just met, I'll never hear the end of it._ Yet he was unable to just walk away. There was a strange feeling that he would regret if he lost sight of her.

"Are you hungry? No, that was a dumb question, you're clearly starving. Come, I'll buy you something to apologize for that."

Her face beamed for a moment, but she hesitated to answer. "No, I can't accept. I'm in a hurry, and it was my fa-"

*GRUMBLE*

"... You sure?"

"... auuuhh…"

He almost laughed at her cute reaction. "C'mon, it's no big deal. I was on my way to have lunch anyway. It won't take this long."

The girl accepted this time, with her eyes almost in tears again.

…

He didn't expected things to go any weirder though. At least not THIS much weird.

"I-Index Li… sorry, what?"

"Index Librorum Prohibitum. If it's hard, you can call me just Index." Said the girl right before filling her mouth with a large chunk of meat. The boy wondered if this whole situation was some kind of joke. Or maybe he was still dreaming. It would be easier to go along with that, but his gut feeling wouldn't just go away. _How should I deal with her? I don't understand what is going on, so maybe it would be for the best if I just keep the conversation going as if there's nothing wrong?_

"I'm Hishiro. Nice to meet you." She answered him with a nod and a big smile. "You're not from around here, are you? I mean, from Academy City..."

"No, I arrived here yesterday. Though I've been on japan for about a year now."

 _A foreigner, like I suspected. That explains the name. Kinda…_ He took a few sips of his soda before continuing. "Where did you came from?"

"Before coming to Japan? I used to live in London."

London. A shock ran through Hishiro's body. The name ringed several bells in his mind, but he didn't know exactly why. The girl continued without noticing his reaction. "Actually, I'm a nun in training of the English Orthodox Anglican Church."

He finally understood. Like a tsunami, several memories of the past few days washed through his mind mercilessly.

 _England. Anglican Church. White robe. Yesterday. The blackout and the invaders. The USB drive. Ambassadors. Guests. Holy crap… No, this can't possibly be!_

Could she be one of the ambassadors? But if that was the case, several things didn't made sense. First of all, Why would she be running on the rooftops? Motoharu stopped them from intervening, but Kinuhata said that someone wearing a white robe got hit by the other pursuers. Who were those others anyway? No, more important, why no one stopped them from attacking her if she was a guest? Why would a guest need to invade the city in the first place?

Among the endless questions surging inside his head, one in particular broke the basis of what he thought he knew about the whole thing: wasn't the term Anglican Church supposed to be a code to something? If not, then this Index wasn't an ambassador at all, the woman in the phone was wrong. She was too young to be one, after all. In that case, what was a code and what wasn't in those files?

Lost in thought, Hishiro didn't noticed how much time passed. The girl had already finished her meal when he came back to his senses. "Thanks for the food! You really saved my life. I need to go now, so bye! May the Lord bless you!"

 _DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!_ On instinct, he tried to follow her, almost forgetting to pay the bill. When he left the restaurant she already was on the end of the street. _Damn, she's fast!_

"Wait!" He rushed and managed to catch up before she could walk through the pedestrian crossing. Index tilted her head in confusion. "Is there something wrong?"

"You said you were in a hurry." The boy quickly came up with an excuse. "In that case I might be able to help you get there. You must not be used to the city yet, right? Where are you going?"

Index replied with a kind smile. "Thanks for worrying, but I already memorized the route. I've been there once, so it'll be fine. All I need is to pick something I left behind."

 _Memorized? She is trying to brush me off, isn't she? In that case I'll go for a more bold approach._ "I see… Can I accompany you at the very least?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Well… I want to hear more about England and everything. We could keep talking on our way there."

"Sorry, but I'm really in a hurry. We could talk about that some other day." Index turned away and started walking, leaving him behind.

 _Tsk. She denied me as boldly. This girl looked like innocent and easy to manipulate at first, but she actually knows her way with words. Firm, polite and without openings._

"Hold on." Hishiro tried to follow her once again.

The nun didn't stop and just looked over her shoulder. This time, the smile had vanished from her face. "Are you trying to delay me on purpose? Do you have a reason to keep me here?"

"N-No! Of course not!" Her sudden change of attitude caught him of guard.

"Then excuse me." And like this, she turned her back at him and kept walking, faster than before.

Hishiro sighed and ran towards her. _She had won in my own game… dammit, I'm not good on this kind of stuff._ Memories of one of his former teammate which was a master when it came to manipulation and information gathering crossed his mind for a second, but he forced it away and focused on the problem ahead of him. _She is clearly being cautious- which is understandable if she really is that invasor. Trespassing aside, those other two were after her life. I can't just earn her trust and make her tell me everything without giving her any guarantee that I won't harm her._

He caught up with her in a matter of seconds and spoke before she had a chance to be scared and get away. "It seems I can't just do it the easy way, so I'm gonna be honest with you."

"Leave me alone!"

"One question" He insisted. "I just need you to answer me a single question and I won't follow you anymore."

Index tried to walk faster to lose him, but he just matched her speed no matter what. She pondered for a while and answered. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"You said you arrived yesterday, right?" Choosing his words carefully, Hishiro built his trap and cornered her like a detective would in an old school novel. "There was a blackout yesterday. The lack of power eased the security system and three people broke into the city. But of course, you already know that." He made a pause on purpose and waited for her to react.

Her body jerked and she tried to deny in panic. "I-I… I know nothing! To begin with, I… arrived in the morning, so how should I know if all lights were out?"

 _Check mate. Never thought that his trick would be useful someday._ The boy smirked and glared at her. "I never said the blackout happened in the night, my dear Wats- I mean, Index." He had to try hard not to laugh at how panicked she was right now. "Though of course, anyone would notice the blackout, even if they were indoors, so this doesn't prove anything. However, I'm not here searching for proofs, because I already know for a fact that you got in by unofficial means."

"T-then, you're not here to try to arrest me?" She asked, sounded somehow relieved. Right now, she was completely on his hands. He betted on the pressure she might be feeling of being a runaway, and once he cornered her, he showed her that he was not an enemy. This is a psychological trick he learned by reading mystery novels since he was a kid.

"Probably not. First I need to confirm something. Yesterday night, those 3 invasors were moving through the city by using the rooftops, and one of them feel after getting attacked by the other two. Would you perhaps be…"

"How? How do you know that?"

"Well, your reaction pretty much confirms it." Hishiro couldn't help but chuckle. "I was there as well, tracking you and your pursuers, but the mission got halted. Did you really got hit and fell from the top of the building?"

Her eyes got a little sad all of a sudden. "... yes. I got careless when I was about to jump."

"Are… are you really alright? It was a clean hit, and from that height..." Hishiro asked, but the answer was obvious from just looking at her. There wasn't a single visible bruise on her body.

Index finally smiled again, making his heart skip another beat. "Are you worried at the criminal now? Hehehe, I'm fine. I defended against the attack, and I fell into a balcony instead of the ground."

"Is that so… good to hear." Actually, he wasn't exactly worried. He was trying to understand how could she survive that situation. _Defended huh… Is she a Gemstone Esper or something?_ "Why were these people after you?"

Index thought for a bit before replying. "I have something they want. They'll do anything they can to get it. But I won't tell you exactly what it is."

"Why?"

"I tried explaining it to someone before and… it didn't ended well." the troubled expression on her face stopped Hishiro from prying any further. After a few minutes of silence...

"We arrived." She said. It was a regular school dorm you could find anywhere in the city. "Is there anything else you want to ask? I really need to go."

There were tons of questions he wanted to ask, but he was barely able to digest the information he got so far, so he gave up. "No, that's all I wanted to know for now… By the way, you don't need to worry about the city security. Someone among the leaders seems to be on your side since we were called off yesterday."

"Uhum. Thanks for telling me. Well then-"

"Wait. Are you going to be alright? I mean, are these two still after you?"

"Don't worry, it will be over soon." She said with a confident smile before waving for him and walking inside the building.

Hishiro stood there for a while, wondering on what he should do. "Pff... uhuhuhuhehe, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He then picked his communication device and turned it on. "Asuka, come in."

"Oh, Shiro! It's so rare for you to call me on your own when we're not working. You should do it more times. I can get really lonely here, you know..."

"Shut up and listen, we don't have to joke around woman." He said with a strong tone before laughing maniacally one more time. "You have no freaking idea of what just happened!"

 **Between the lines**

The old lady was walking down the hallway. She looked like she was at her late fifties, wore a heavy coat and a handmade scarf. Her name was very well known within Academy City. Oyafune Monaka. Among the Board of Directors, she was the one with the best reputation. However, if the general public knew what the lady was about to do, her reputation would be ruined beyond repair.

In front of one of the last doors, two people were waiting for her. One of them was another member of the Board of Directors, Kaizumi Tsugutoshi. The other was a girl that introduced herself as Kumokawa Seria.

After the greetings, Kazumi was the first one to talk. "I guess you want to get this done as soon as possible. Shall we go inside?"

Oyafune replied with a blank expression. "Are they inside already?"

"Yes, we already managed to gather all of them. All that's left are the formalities, which is why we are here" Answered Seria. "Don't worry, they won't hear the details. They are in the waiting room, we are going to the soundproof office."

Oyafune sighed and nodded. The girl then opened the door and led them inside. Sitting down in chairs and the sofa there were six children. It was hard to be sure by just glancing, but the oldest of them didn't seem to be more than 14 or 15 years old. He wasn't paying attention to the adults entering and was focused on the several batteries he had on his lap. Aside from him, there was a boy with a long ponytail with his arms crossed and eyes shut, a boy with brown hair and eyes wearing heavier clothes than the others that seemed to not be caring at all about what was happening, a boy with red spiky hair that was practicing a trick with cards, a girl with bluish long hair that was murmuring something… The youngest was the last of the two girls in the group, sitting down alone in the corner of the room. She seemed to be just nine and looked a bit depressed, but she smiled when Oyafune waved at her.

The three entered the said office and locked the door, so the kids outside wouldn't hear them. "They are all so young… they don't deserve the fate we are imposing on them." Said the old lady in a regretful tone.

Kazumi looked for the right words to tell her. "I'm really sorry to ask this of you. I know it must be really uncomfortable, but please understand. We really have no other options. We need to act before things start to get out of hand."

"I know..." Answered Oyafune. "Where are the documents?"

"Here." Seira handed her few sheets of paper. "There are listed all the members, who they are or aren't allowed to obey, and countermeasures to be taken in the case of everything comes to light. Let's just hope that the latter never happens… This won't be submitted to anyone, so don't worry. It just exists to be used as reference later on."

Oyafune took her time to read everything that it said about the children.

Kai Ishida: 15 years old - Level 3 Electromaster;

Isay Aleksev: 13 years old - Unable to go trough the Ability Development Curriculum (check the Parameter List for more details);

Hishiro Yamazaki: 13 years old - Level 3 Null Inertia;

Jun Kwang: 12 years old - Level 4 Clarevollence;

Ryou Udekashi: 11 years old - Level 2 Telepathy;

Hinata Sazuko: 9 years old - Level 0;

"By the way" Seria interrupted her reading. "Some of them have… complicated pasts, so a few of the names and ages described there are actually fakes to cover up their origins. But I can guarantee that they are capable of doing whatever we need them to do."

"Oh... I understand" Disheartened, Oyafune quickly signed the papers and handed them to Kazumi.

"I hope you don't mind, but I assigned Seria to oversee the team operations to maintain their success and safety." Said the man as he signed the papers as well.

"I do have one condition regarding that." As she said it, the old lady picked some kind of device that looked like speakers and a mic at the same time from her pocket and placed it on the table. The other two looked at each other in confusion. "Seria will share this responsibility with someone of my absolute trust. Asuka, can you hear us? Introduce yourself to your new partner."

"Hi hi~ Asuka Mayu presenting to service!" The female voice suddenly came from the device. "Should I follow the file format? Asuka Mayu: 23 years old. Level 1 Pyrokinetic. Currently single. Blood type and measurements are..."

"That's enough Asuka, thank you very much." Even though she had to cut her off, Oyafune mood slightly improved on hearing the careless voice.

Kazumi frowned and asked. "What's the meaning of this?" Neither him nor the other girl seemed pleased at the turn of events.

"It's simple. You are indicating someone to take care of the team, and so am I. We are both responsible for it, so I think it's just fair that both of our right hands are involved. Do you have any objections?"

The man did not answer. Instead, he turned to Seira, looking for help. The girl could just sigh "It's okay, we agree. It's fair enough. Though you could have brought her in person instead."

"Nope, that won't do." Asuka said. "I never meet important people face to face. It's a rule of mine. You never know when you might get caught in an attempt of murder by accident. Or when the other party want to corner you, blackmail you, kidnap you, things like that."

"That sounds a bit unfair..." Complained Seira.

Oyafune had to intervene. "She is a bit complicated, but she is the best on what she does. I give my word on that, so please overlook the details."

The girl was obviously annoyed, but didn't pressed the matter any further. They couldn't give up because of something so minor. They needed the team in action as soon as possible. She quickly gathered the files in the corner of the table and gave the last bit of explanation needed to everyone in the room.

On the top of the first page of the file was written: Reformulation of the Unofficial Regularization and Intervention Squad - New POINTER.

* * *

 **Managed to finish it in less than a week. Hooray! This is the least I could do after taking so long to release the last 2 chapters. Unfortunately I can't guarantee that I'll be able to keep this rhythm...**

 **Anyway, with this chapter the introduction arc is over. For those wondering if Touma will appear soon… well, I guess the answer is clear now, given the direction things went this chapter. The true question is: Who is gonna get punched? Whose illusions are going to get destroyed? Have fun trying to figure it out. ^_^**

 **Well then, all the pieces I wanted are finally set on the table. Now that the dark side of science and magic finally crossed paths, what will happen to the story?**


	6. Seven Flashes

**II**

 **Chapter 6: Crashing Into the Tip of the Iceberg**

 **Seven_Flashes**

 **Part 1**

"Wait, do you mean everything you just told me? If it's a joke, you better say it right now."

"If you don't believe me, just check the security cameras. She was with me up until now."

Even so, Asuka just couldn't believe what the boy had told her. It was the first day of the summer break, neither of them should be working today unless something urgent came up. And the invasion had happened less than 24 hours ago. Nobody would even dream to find one of the intruders so fast without even trying. "No, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just… It's just too convenient, isn't it? Think about it, what are the odds of you bumping on yesterday's target in broad daylight?"

"I figured you would say that, that's the reason I'm calling you." Replied the boy. For once, Asuka wasn't able to imagine what was going through the boy's head right now from his voice alone. "This whole thing was ridiculous from the very beginning. I'm starting to believe that the Breakdown was actually nothing but a rumor to draw attention away from this incident."

She rubbed her temples and thought hard at the possibility he proposed. This was one of the rare situations where she couldn't come up with an answer easily, and that pissed her off. "No… I don't think this is the case. It's not like I can deny it, but if it's really that… It would be at least weird for them to involve our unit into this. We are not like the other organizations that needs a fake lead to ignore something else. We turn a blind eye on almost everything that happens in the city unless we are told otherwise."

"Yeah, it wouldn't make any sense. But come to think of it…" Hishiro paused for a few seconds. Seemed like he was having trouble trying to understand the situation as well. "Given what had happened yesterday, I think that the higher ups are currently unaligned. One or more of them wanted us to get those intruders, while the others - including the chairman, by the way - wanted them in and safe. From my point of view, this is either a signal of internal conflict or miscommunication."

"And we got dragged in the middle of it? I just hope you are very wrong about this one, Shiro..."

"Actually, me too... But my other bet is that they are indulging us to commit a mistake so they would have a reason to erase us, so... I mean, the one that intercepted me was THAT guy."

"That was definitely a death flag." Asuka could only sigh and take a sip from the suspicious looking drink on her hand. "Ahhh… if they really want us to resign, they could just send a demission letter or something. I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of being silenced by force. It sounds exciting at first, but when you think that it will happen just once and then everything will be over, it's probably very disappointing."

"Says the one that never ever shows her face. Wouldn't them die out of age trying to look for you or something?"

She couldn't help but giggle like a little girl at his comment. It was very rare for him to play along with her jokes. "Tehehehe, are you trying to cheer me up now, Shiro? You just made aunt Asuka very happy!"

"Is that so? Just for the record, it wasn't my intention."

"No use trying to play the Tsundere so late in the game. After all these chapters, your character is already set on stone." She could hear him laughing on the other side of the line and was able to relax a little. Ever since the team shrunk to Hishiro alone, it wasn't easy to see him having fun like this.

"So… what should we do now?" He asked after a while.

"Asking me out? After telling me you took another girl to have lunch? You sure are bold today. Is it because of the horosco-"

"No idiot. I'm talking about the intruder." Seems like playtime was already over, unfortunately.

"Well, we both know for a fact that something is going on behind the scenes here, but they already told us to stay out of it. But you already knew that, and yet you're asking me, so you already had the answer with you from the start."

"Still, I couldn't just act selfishly without consulting you first. Also… I'm not really sure we should. The girl said that it would all be over soon..."

"But doesn't that sounds suspicious as well?" No answer. Actually, even Asuka was at a loss of how to deal with this. "Okay, Then let's just observe for now. No one said we weren't allowed to do that, right? We can decide whether to act or not afterwards, depending on what happens. How that sounds to you?"

"Hmm… satisfying enough, I guess? Thought I may be labelled as a stalker if I keep following her around all day. It's already weird for me to be standing in front of this dorm for so long."

"No idiot, not you." For Asuka, it felt good to give his words back right at him. "I can scan the surroundings of the building using the satellite images. If she leaves and anything happens, I'll call you right away."

"I don't know… I don't like the idea of letting you get the credit -or the blame- for this one."

"You were the one scared in the first place. Leave it to me and go enjoy your break, kay~?"

"What about your break, Asuka?"

"I'm 26, I don't go to school anymore. Summer break means nothing to me since very long ago."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot about that. Your own fault for not acting your age..." She could hear a long sigh from the line and heavy steps. Seems like she managed to convince him.

…

From a safe distance, a certain someone wearing a dark gray robe with golden decorations and a black hood that covered half of his face watched carefully the brown haired boy talking in the phone until he left.

"The fruit of knowledge has been placed in front of thou, and thou have been warned to leave it alone." The sentence recited to no one in particular was red from the tiny scroll held by the person. As a thin smirk formed on its face, the scroll got burnt by green flames and vanished. "So, what are you going to do now, my dear Adan? Obey and accept this fake paradise? Or reject everything and take a bite?"

 **Part 2**

The electricity crisis that had been tormenting District 7 since the night before was still ongoing. In an area where the power had yet to be restored, a group of four girls were walking on the streets with a rare aura of seriousness around then. They were Kuroko Shirai, Mikoto Misaka, Kazari Uiharu and Ruiko Saten. Not long ago, they had parted ways with a specialist after discussing about the Level Upper. The teleporter was satisfied with everything they had learned. "So, everything comes down to whether we find it or not… Uiharu, we should go back to the office."

But the other girl was distracted by something on the opposite sidewalk and didn't answered. No, instead of something, it was someone. "Hey, Shirai-san. Isn't that boy the one you arrested by accident?" Kuroko turned into the direction she was pointing and… it was indeed him, there was no mistake about it.

"Oohhh… so this is the rumored guy that Shirai-san ran away with in the evening." Saten, which had been quiet since she learnt that the Level Upper might had side effects, embraced the opportunity to change the subject.

"Is that true, Kuroko? I haven't heard this part of the story at all." Mikoto asked, with a surprised expression. "Don't tell me that he is the reason we got punished for you being so late back then."

"T-That's not it, onee-sama! It was all part of Judgment's work!"

"Even though Konori-senpai said you didn't had to go after him?" Said Uiharu, ruining her friend's excuse. "No, thinking about it now, she actually told not to go-Hmghm!"

"Uiharu… ENOUGH!" The flower headed girl was forced to stay quiet when the fierce level 4 blocked her mouth with her hands. "If Konori-senpai knew he was going to face another esper that had stolen something from him, she would have officially sent me without thinking twice."

"Yeah, that's what you say, but I wonder what his side of the story sounds like." Giving the finishing blow with a giggle, Saten drove Kuroko into a corner. The goal was to make her resign and accept the joke, but she underestimated the level 4.

"What!? Do I need to go this far to- no, I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. If it's for the sake of maintaining my reputation in front of onee-sama, this is nothing! Even if I have to go this far, I have to do it!"

"Wait, Shira-" Uiharu was unable to stop her in time. The twin pigtailed girl had already teleported away.

Saten wondered with an apologizing tone. "Maybe… I have gone a little too far."

"No, it's not your fault. She is just this stupid when she gets worked up with stupid things." Explained Misaka before sighing, half expecting what was about to come. And just like she predicted…

 _ZAP!_

"Here he is."

"... huh? What just… What?"

Kuroko teleported back, and she had bought the mysterious boy along with her. At the sight of the confused male, the other girls could just wave and smile wryly.

"Now, Saten-san. Feel free to question him for as long as you like. You'll see that there won't be any contradictions about what I said."

 _She actually managed to turn the tables on me?!_ Saten panicked, trying to come up with an excuse to escape the situation. "W-well, this is sudden… Could you introduce us first?"

"Unfortunately no." Kuroko closed her eyes and remembered what happened when she first met him. "This gentleman refuses to give his name no matt-"

"Good evening, I'm Hishiro Yamazaki." Bowing politely, the brown haired gentleman cut off Kuroko and introduced himself to the other girls. "If possible, please call me by my first name and without honorifics."

Everyone looked to and fro the boy named Hishiro and the girl (who was frozen in place) dumbfounded. Misaka was the first one to break the silence. "Hey, Kuroko. I think I picked a contradiction already..."

"This gotta be a new world record. It took less than half a minute." Added Uiharu.

"Wa-wha- why!?" The teleporter girl snapped and yelled at the boy. "How can you give your name away so easily now?!"

"Why couldn't I? It's just a name anyway..."

"If that's the case, why didn't you told us when you were being questioned?!"

"Because it was a questioning." He shrugged and replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I have the right to stay quiet."

"Why… you! How da-"

"By the way, who are you again? I get the feeling we met before somewhere..."

"GWAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

In the end, the other girls had to hold their friend back before she could commit a crime. Actually, Misaka had to knock her out by zapping her, since a teleporter can't just simply be held in place.

 **Part 3**

"Sorry I didn't recognised you. A lot of things have been happening around me, my head just can't keep up."

"It's okay… don't worry about that anymore..." Kuroko's voice sounded lifeless after she woke up. There were still smoke around some parts of her body.

After the commotion, they had to move away before someone from the crowd around called Anti-Skill on them. Right now they were sitting on a bench on a small park that was surprisingly empty, even though it was summer break, and then waited for Kuroko to wake up before everyone introduced themselves properly.

An empty park. Four girls and one boy. Under the sunset. _Dammit, this is uncomfortable. How the hell did I end up like this? Not to mention that one of them is a freaking level 5! I just pray that Asuka is not watching over me right now..._

Uiharu turned to the boy and decided to start. "Well then, Yamazaki-san..."

"As I said, please use just my first name."

"Oh- sorry, Hishiro-san… no, sorry, I mean..."

"It's better to let her use honorifics." Interrupted Saten. "I never ever heard Uiharu calling someone without them."

"Really? Well… that's fine, I guess."

"Ahem." The flower haired girl cleaned her throat and started over. "Hishiro-san, we would like to hear from you what happened that day after you and Shirai-san left."

"Hmm, let's see..." He thought for a moment and explained with as little details as possible, so they wouldn't pry where they shouldn't.

"See?" Said Kuroko after he finished. "I'm as clean as the clear sky in a summer morning."

 _Aside from your dirty mind…_ Misaka thought, but kept it for herself.

"Are you satisfied now, Saten-san?" The person in question just smiled wryly and didn't said anything, but it was enough to please the twin pigtailed girl, until a question popped on her mind. "By the way, what happened to that other boy? Did you find him?"

"Nope, and honestly I hope to never see him again unless if it's to watch his ass getting kicked." The scornful tone on his voice clearly showed how he despised the other male. "I had enough trouble with him already."

"But why he wanted that USB drive so much? Was there anything valuable there?" Asked Saten with a hint of curiosity.

"Supposedly it had something to do with a dumb rumor about the Imaginary Number District-"

"THE IMAGINARY NUMBER DISTRICT!?" Hishiro noticed his mistake too late when the black haired girl's blue eyes sparkled at him.

""There she goes again..."" Misaka and Uiharu said in unison.

"Y-yeah, but it was nothing but a rumor in the end, so it wasn't worth it." The boy quickly tried to shot her down as she was starting to get too close, as if she would devour him at any second.

"Saten-san, leave it alone." Misaka intervened. "We already have our share of urban legends to take care about."

"Ehehehehe, sorry sorry. I just couldn't resist..." Her behavior went back to normal in an instant and her mood seemed to get a bit heavier. Hishiro picked on that quickly and decided to ask back. "Now that's something. What kind of legends is the famous Railgun after?"

"At this point, it is way beyond just an urban legend." She said with a sigh. "Have you heard of the Level Upper?"

"!" By now, he had already lost count on how many times his mind had snapped like this today. He wasn't expecting to hear about that all of a sudden, specially from civilians. "Isn't it that thing that increases the level of an esper for a time and then makes them collapse?"

Kuroko was the one surprised now. "Have the rumors gone this far already? We can't really underestimate people's curiosity when it comes to things like this."

"In summary, we are trying to find who's behind the Level Upper and how to wake up the victims. But we need to find the Level Upper itself first." Misaka explained. Out of reaction, Saten checked her cellphone inside her pocket with a troublesome expression. Hishiro noticed her reaction and grinned.

 _Heh… now that's an interesting situation._ He was no amatheur, that was really enough to grasp what was going on within this group. What he couldn't grasp though was what the higher ups were thinking by let it happen. _It would be really sick if this whole incident was nothing but a social experiment just to see how people would react on the situation this girl is right now. But it's naive to think that I just found the core of everything here._

"Waah, it's really hot here! The shade isn't helping that much..." Saten quickly changed the subject, but only Hishiro knew her true intentions.

"True..." Misaka replied innocently with a careless smile, but then noticed something out of place. Namelly, the boy's gray jacket. "Wait, how can you stand the heat wearing something like this?"

"Hm? I'm not feeling hot at all." He decided to play along with Saten's excuse. Still smirking, he boldly stood up and grabbed Misaka's wrist. The girls all felt surprised by the sudden action, but Misaka in particular was surprised by something else. "See?"

"It's… cold?!"

"Yup, it is." Hishiro seemed amused by her reaction, letting go her arm. "I told you about my ability just now. You know how heat is actually the agitation of molecules, right? The AIM diffusion fields I emit doesn't let them to agitate beyond a certain point naturally. Without my jacket, the air around me would never get above about... 17º C I think… or something like that. I don't actually know the details. This is what I overheard from the staff during the ability test some years ago."

"That's some convenient side effect." Misaka smiled wryly and took a hold of her own wrist, enjoying the cold feeling before it faded into the summer heat again.

"I get that a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal..." The boy shrugged. There was a hint of something on his eyes that moment… Sadness? Loneliness? Misaka couldn't exactly tell, and before she could ask-

 _Beep Beep_

That sound broke the world. For Hishiro, that ringtone was like an air raid siren. Every time it played, he was dragged away from relaxing moments like this one and into a bloody and dark battlefield. And at this time in particular, it had an even heavier meaning. He picked the device and walked away from the girls.

"What is it, Asuka?"

"Something's happening! Where are you right now?" Her voice sounded completely different from usual.

"I'm still on District 7. What's going on?"

"Go back to that dorm quickly! I'm not sure how much time we have, so I'll explain on the way!"

"Got it. Give me half a minute, I need to dismiss some civilians around here first."

The boy switched the call to wait mode and sighed. He actually wanted to pry a little further on their business with the Level Upper just for the fun of it, but this was way more important. When he walked back to the girls, Uiharu noticed right away that there was something going on. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, but I need to go." They looked worried for a moment, but Hishiro told them off before any of them had the chance to pry. Specially the members of Judgement. "It's nothing serious, really. I was actually waiting for that call."

"Is that so… Well, see you around then."

"Next time make sure to greet me like normal people do." Kuroko turned her head away, avoiding eye contact.

Before leaving, Hishiro walked right beside Misaka and whispered so only her could hear. "The black haired girl sneaked away a while ago in that direction." Only now Misaka noticed that Saten was missing from the group. "You better keep a close eye on her, or she might do something unnecessary."

Before she could ask anything, he was already running towards the opposite direction. _I was told to not interfere, so that's all I can do for you. The rest depends on how deep are you willing to dive into the darkness._

 **Part 4**

"She never left the building?"

"No. As far as I can tell, the girl must still be there. Unless she used some underhanded way to get past the satellite vigilance and the security cameras."

Hishiro ran as fast as he could towards the dorm he had been earlier this afternoon. "That's weird… she told me that she just had to pick something up."

"Remember, she is from the outside. You can't just trust everything she said just because you found her cute."

"WHEN DID I EVER SAID THAT?!"

"It was obvious from the way you looked at her when you met her. I took a screenshot of that moment, if you are interested."

"Hell no!"

"That's a shame... Would you prefer a screenshot of her face th-"

"Is that REALLY the time to be messing around like this?!" It could be because of the sudden stressful situation, but Hishiro felt more irritated than usual.

"Fine fine, I got it." Asuka finally went straight to the point. "The thing is, about five minutes ago, every pedestrian simply walked away from the perimeter and the place became eerily empty."

He just frowned. That sounded strange alright, but surely it wasn't enough to make Asuka call him. "Isn't it just a coincidence? It's not impossible that no one had business there for an amount of time, specially in a residential area like that one."

"That's what I thought at first, but then a single person walked into the building." Asuka paused, making Hishiro anxious.

"What? Who it was?"

"It's… a tall female wearing weird clothes, but the important part was what she was carrying… I didn't want to believe something was going to happen but now..."

"What was she carrying Asuka? Just say it, dammit!"

"A sword." His eyes widened after hearing the word. "At first glance, it looks like a long pole, but after analyzing the image with more attention, it is undoubtedly a katana of about two meters long. Does that ring any bells?"

He remembered. One of the intruders was holding something that looked like that. "You gotta be kidding me..." He remembered what that and the other person were trying to do with the girl named Index, and what the results were. He remembered about how the girl looked scared, but at the same time relieved when she said that everything was about to end soon. "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"But think about it Shiro, things are starting to make a bit of sense." Asuka used nothing but logic on moments like these. The only feeling that her voice emitted was the anxiety of if Hishiro could make it in time to confirm her theory or not. "Academy City is cooperating with those people to get this said something that this Index has. The secret files from the other day said that someone among the higher ups has a great interest in it, so they probably want to keep anyone from interfering in exchange of a peek on whatever it is."

"Tsk!" His legs were burning from the frantic dash, but he increased his speed anyway. "The woman, is she still in the building as well?"

"I didn't see her leaving yet, so, yes, most likely." Asuka hesitated for a while before asking. "What are you planning to do now, Shiro? Do you want to save that girl? If you were to ask me… it would be better to keep observing from the shadows. It's just too risky to act when we don't even know the scale of thing."

His heartbeat increased upon hearing her suggestion. He could roughly tell what would happen if he just walked away, but what would happen if he decided to barge in? Probably it wouldn't end in just a warning like last time… but even so...

"I couldn't care less about the safety of that airheaded nun. But I'm not the kind of person that likes to be left behind like this. If they had stayed quiet about the whole thing, I would just leave it alone, but I'm not willing to step back anymore. I want to know what's going on, and if they won't tell us by the easy way, I'll just make those involved speak in their place!"

Asuka giggled at his response. She probably already knew he would say that. "Oh my, Shiro, You could sound so cool if you were honest with yourself for once. But you're cute when you're like that as well~*."

"Shut up, I'm serious. And I don't want to hear that from you." Retorted the boy. He hadn't noticed, but there was a wide and somewhat malicious grin on his face right now. "If you wanted just to observe, you wouldn't have called me on the first place."

"I don't even know what you're talking about~~!"

…

It didn't take long for him to arrive back at the dorm. But, unfortunately, it was already too late. From afar, Hishiro could see the silhouette of a female running from inside the building while he tried to catch his own breath. _Is it Index? No… it's too tall to be her._ He closed the distance without her noticing and watched carefully. She was breathing heavily and her steps were unsteady. But what picked his eyes was the tone of red splashed on her white shirt and ragged jeans.

"Blood?" At least, it looked like it. The sky had already turned orange, the lights might be playing with his eyes. He wished that was the case, but…

"It is blood. And she doesn't seems to be hurt, so it's not hers." Asuka confirmed. So it could just mean one thing. He wanted to leave the cover right away and confront her, but without knowing what she was capable off, this could be suicide. For starters, that sword definitively wasn't there just for showing. The most sensate thing to do was sneak past her and confirm Index's situation and check for more victims. Asuka could keep track of the woman anyway. But he didn't even had a chance to try it.

"Whoever is behind the pillar, show yourself!"

 _Darn, I messed up!_ It was useless to keep hiding. Swallowing hard, he walked towards the female without displaying that he was actually nervous. She narrowed her eyes and stared at him coldly while the wind blew her black ponytail sideways. He felt shivers from just that. It was hard to tell exactly what, but something about her aura felt… very dangerous. And it wasn't just the blood on her clothes.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" She asked. Hishiro tried to look menacing and stared back with the same intensity as he replied.

"That's actually my line. You are the outsider here, not me." Her stance changed and she placed a hand on the hilt of the sword.

"I would rather avoid conflict, if possible. Please leave and don't get on our way anymore."

"Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without answers." For precaution, he reached his hand for his weapon as well, but he didn't pulled it out. "First of all, I got some questions for that girl, Index. Is she alright? I heard that she was here the whole afternoon-"

The woman gritted her teeth, and before he could finish- "!"

It all happened too fast. On one moment, she seemed ready to draw, and on the other, he was already laying on his butt, and there was a deep cut on the ground right before where he was standing. "Last warning. Go away. I'm not in a good mood right now."

 _What… the heck was that?_ _She couldn't possibly have done it with the sword alone, could her?_ As if reading his mind, Asuka gave a quick explanation.

"At that moment, at least a couple of blades came from different directions and collided to the ground at very high speed, resulting on what you are seeing right now. This is bad Shiro. This isn't the kind of attack you can dodge, nor defend using your ability."

 _So my only chance is to find the origin of these blades… what an annoying trick._ He stood up, paying attention to the surroundings to figure out where it did came from - and if it was going to attack again.

"You don't intend to leave, do you..." The female sighed and closed her eyes. She seemed to be wondering about what to do in this situation.

"No, not at all. I got attacked by worse things these last few days. This is far from enough to scare me." He made an exaggerated movement, indicating he was about to run towards her. _If I misguide her judgement and move differently from her expectations, I can avoid those blades and get closer, but that sword is a problem._

Five seconds passed by like an eternity as they did nothing but stare at each other. Hishiro was the first one to move, dashing in a straight line. The woman kept still, slightly pulled the blade from the scabbard and whispered. "Nanasen..."

The almost invisible blades struck once again, but this time, Hishiro was quicker. He had already sidestepped before she had opened her mouth and the attack missed. She looked surprised for a second, but didn't stop there. "Nanasen!"

Several blades came flying at him, but he managed to avoid being targeted by moving at illogical and unexpected directions. It was like trying to not get hit by a bullet: instead of dodging the projectile, you had higher chances by disturbing the aim of the shooter. _Still, it would be better if I knew how is she manipulating them._

After the pattern had repeated a few times, he had found an opening on her timing. Without wasting a second, he pulled out his handgun, released the safety as fast as possible and shot at her legs without mercy.

The female took a couple of steps back and moved her sword. Right after, all the bullets had fallen on the floor around her - sliced on half. Hishiro could barely believe it. Even if the blades were fast and sharp enough to pull that out, to actually aim and time the action was unthinkable. _With reflexes such as these, she could have hit me long ago. What is going on here?_

"Tsk!" he ran for her once again, but this time, on of the blades managed to hit his arm, cutting deep into his flesh. "Agh!"

"I warned you. You could have left unharmed." Said the female emotionlessly.

"To the hell with that!" Changing his plans, he dashed straight to her this time. _If things continue like this, it'll be a matter of time until I can't fight anymore. I may not be able to stop her attacks with Null Inertia, but if I slow them down I might be able to get past them, and since she is expecting me to sidestep, I can get her by surprise!_

But that proved to be a terrible mistake.

"Shiro, wait! Don't do this!" It was already too late when Asuka tried to stop him. The woman attacked, Hishiro activated his ability and...

 _No way!_ An immense pressure fell on his body, meaning that his ability was at its limit already. He soon found out the reason. _Seven? Seven blades at the same time?! I can't-_

Pain. For a moment, his five senses wavered as pain was everything he could feel. The seven blades had showered on him mercilessly, cutting his body in multiple places… he couldn't even tell where, everything was hurting. Unable to keep standing, he fell into the pool of blood that had formed around him. His vision was darkening, but he could see the attacker a few meters in front of him. Even she looked surprised at what happened.

 _Haha… and she wasn't even trying to kill me… just how pathetic am I?_ Hishiro shut his eyes. He knew what was coming and there was nothing he could do anymore. He didn't want to know the moment his consciousness was going to slip away. Asuka was yelling something, but it didn't mattered anymore. In a matter of seconds, his mind had completely turned off.

…

Kanzaki stood still, staring at the scene in front of her. The male had fainted due to blood loss and was going to die soon if nothing was done. _What was he trying to do? That last dash wasn't a suicide attack, he seemed to have a plan… well, it doesn't matter anymore._

"Kanzaki!"

"... Stiyl."

The new voice came from a redheaded male wearing a black robe that was heading her way. Once he arrived, he looked choked by the almost corpse lying on the ground. "What happened here?"

"I don't know myself..." She answered. Her voice trembled as she kept talking. "Weren't your runes supposed to keep civilians away? How in the world did this boy got past your spell?"

Stiyl sighed and lit up a cigar. "Who knows. But the important question is: was it intentional or an accident? If they are secretly researching our techniques and creating counter measures, then this kid is more than a simple mockery - it is an act of war. However..." Placing the cigar on his mouth, he moved besides the limp body and nudged it with his feet. Of course, there was no response. "He doesn't seem to be a menace. So let's just assume that he is an Exception for the sake of convenience and move on. Really… the science side is full of freaks." The man then stalled his fingers and several pieces of paper with runes that were spread around the area ignited and burned away. He blew some smoke before continuing. "Where is Index?"

The woman named Kanzaki lowered her head and answered in a depressed tone. "She's inside, in front of one of the rooms. I..." Biting her lip, she had trouble to continue when she remembered what had just happened between the two of them. "Her walking church is no longer effective for some reason. I didn't knew that and… and..."

"I see…" Styil made paused and blew more smoke from his mouth. _That makes two of our spells nullified. Honestly, I don't even know what to make out of this._ "Don't worry, I'll take care of her. But first, we need to _get rid of this evidence_. You know what I mean, right?"

Kanzaki nodded and both picked up the body on the floor, ready to take him away.

…

On the rooftop, the gray robbed person watched everything carefully. On his hands, there were a few damaged pieces of paper with runes drawn on it. A malicious smirk formed on his mouth formed when a certain spiky haired boy appeared and headed towards the dorm which had no traces left of the battle that had just happened. And which was about to become his own nightmarish battlefield very soon...

* * *

 **This was supposed to be as short as the first chapter. Yet I don't even know when it jumped from 900 to over 6000 words… writing is really magic sometimes.**

 **Yes, this is the first chapter of the second arc and the main character is almost dead already, and on the hands of his enemies. Sorry for that, but when you use the Saint card in the game, there is basically no other possible result for the other party unless they are another Saint... or Accelerator. But this had to happen sooner or later. Just like Touma, he had to taste how dangerous magic is... but he don't have the Imagine Breaker so... yeah, things may get a little more brutal for him. *Laughs***

 **In the reviews, someone asked if Index had planned everything. The answer is no... but someone did. But you know what? It's a nice idea. Might write a fic later where Index is the mastermind and main villain of the series. Mwahahaha!**

 **Anyway, give me your thoughts on your reviews. I love to see you guys trying to figure out what am I going to write (or pointing out my shameful typos... ugh). Look forward to the next chapter!**


	7. Remaining Ashes

**II**

 **Chapter 7: Traces of Conflict**

 **Remaining_Ashes**

 **Part 1**

The trigger was squeezed twice, but no loud gunshot rang. Instead, a ridiculous quiet noise could be heard only by the shooter himself. If he didn't knew it was because of the silencer, he would have guessed it was a toy and not a real gun. Though a toy wouldn't be able to dig through the bodies of the two men in front of him like it just happened, even if it was made in Academy City.

The bullets struck the most critical point of their chests perfectly, making the two wearing business suits to fall dead on the floor. A third person could be seen carrying a leather suitcase, dashing towards the exit of the facility. Quickly reloading his weapon, the shooter pursued, turning right in the corner and shoot a third time.

"Gyah!"

This time it hit the leg instead of the chest, allowing the victim to leak a high pitched shriek. Due to the shock, she fell on the ground letting go the suitcase that landed a few meters away. She tried to drag herself towards it but the pain on her leg was too much for her to endure. And also…

"Sorry sorry. I didn't want to make you suffer so much. My bad~!"

Slowly, the pursuer closed in step by step. Even though his appearance was rather casual, his presence meant death. In this city, whoever tried to cross a _certain boundary_ would be targeted by this boy and would be disposed off without fail - which is why he was known as the Grim Reaper. His actual name was Motoharu Tsuchimikado.

The blond boy approached, pointing his gun at the short haired woman that seemed to be on her early twenties. She stared back at him with fear, but did not beg for her life like he was expecting her to do. As if accepting her fate, she clenched her eyes.

But then...

"!"

Something came flying at Tsuchimikado from further inside the hallway. No, "flying" wasn't exactly the word to describe it. Three viscous objects that looked like slimes of about 15cm of diameter were bouncing on the floor and walls at high speed trying to hit him. Surprised, he crouched and jumped to the right, avoiding the attack by a hair's breadth. _Hot! And it smells awful… Just what is this thing!?_

Looking behind, the bouncing projectiles had lost their shape and were scattered all over the place. The almost liquid material was actually…

"This one surprised me, I'll give you that. But really, molten plastic? You can't underestimate the Esper Development Curriculum nowadays. Even bubble gums could be a weapon in the hands of the right person..."

"G-got a problem with that?!" The voice didn't belong to the female - actually, even she looked surprised. It came from further behind her. There was someone coming this way. "You! G-get away from her!"

"No… No! Run away!" The woman yelled at the male trying to rescue her. "He's going to kill you too!"

"Sorry… I just can't leave you behind after all…"

Tsuchimikado stopped listening at this point. This kind of job already left a bad taste on his mouth. If he payed attention to every wishy washy moment that developed in front of him at times like this, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night. "Okay, okay, time's up! Please respect the feelings of the singles in the room."

"The only respect you deserve is the one we give to the dead." The other male retorted filled with rage and picked a small plastic bottle from the bag on his back. "Prepare yourself!"

The blond boy was ready to face his enemy's attack- but it never came. Instead, he dropped the bottle and collapsed on the floor.

"...Yuji? Hey… Yuji! Answer me! Yuji!" The woman tried to crawl towards him, but the pain stopped her once again. All she could do was cry for her dear life. Tsuchimikado walked past her and checked on the limp body.

 _Oh, so that's what happened._ Inside the male's pocket, there was a small old music player with a single song on its memory. _The Level Upper… I can't tell if this is supposed to be comic or tragic. Well, at least I don't have to fight him anymore._ Indeed, all he had to do was shoot him in the head and call it a day. It was an easy task, especially when the target was passed out. But before he had chance to do it…

"!... My phone?" He picked it from his pocket and looked at the message displayed on the screen:

From: Maika

Subject: Pls reply!

I heard there was a fire on the dorm. Are you okay?

"So it really happened, huh..." Tsuchimikado knew that this was one of the possible outcomes ever since he confirmed that the nun had met his best friend this morning, so he had told Maika to stay in her dorm this night because he was coming home late. Though he secretly hoped that it hadn't come to that. "Kami-yan…"

After sending a quick reply to his sister, the blond boy turned his attention back to the 2 floored people in front of him. "*Sigh*… Screw that… I'm not in the mood anymore." He grabbed the suitcase from the floor and knocked the woman out with a kick on her gut. "The cleanup team can deal with them."

…

"Ehehehehehe~*! This went better than I was expecting!"

Laughing outside the facility in District 17 without a care in the world was Frenda, holding a suitcase that looked too much alike the one Tsuchimikado was after.

"You sure look super happy." Besides her was her not so pleased friend in crime, Kinuhata "But you know that Mugino is super going to kill us if she finds out, right?"

"Don't worry, I told Takitsubo to cover up for us in case Mugino suspected anything."

"... Maybe I shouldn't have come after all."

"Why? This was basically your plan."

"No, it super wasn't."

"It was! You were the one drooling over the secret of our last mission and playing detective all over the place!"

"This and that are super different things. I just wanted to watch what was happening, not to barge in and steal the suitcase."

"Hmpf! How ungrateful!" The blond girl pouted and started to walk away. "Fine. If you're not interested, I'll see what's inside it by myself!"

"Okay, I got it, you won..." Giving in, Kinuhata catched up to Frenda without trying to hide her curiosity anymore. "I also super want to know what is going on."

With nimble movements, Frenda quickly opened the suitcase.

 **Part 2**

July 21, 9:11 am

Frenda and Kinuhata were taking a walk at the residential area of District 7. No, it looked like they were just friends having a morning walk, but they actually had another goal in mind.

"You know, we're super lucky that the summer break already begun. It would be troublesome to get uniforms from a nearby school just to blend in the crowd without Mugino noticing." Kinuhata voice sounded nonchalantly, but she was actually 100% aware of her surroundings, trying to spot anyone that could possibly be tailing them.

"But it would be nice to try some regular uniforms for a change..." Frenda replied while she fanned herself with her beret.

After yesterday night unofficial operation, they tried to figure out the meaning of the contents of the suitcase. All they found inside it was a bunch of money. More specifically, it was fake money. Even an amateur could tell that those Yen bills were worth nothing. However, upon closer inspection, Takitsubo noticed that the importance of these bills were actually their serial codes. By mashing together the characters of the first bill of each pile into a single line, the result was a password to access a specific Rank S terminal for Academy City Network.

Obviously, they couldn't just go and use it, even though they had the password. Rank S terminals are those that only the Board of Directors are allowed to access, they couldn't simply go there do whatever they wanted. And without the necessary hacking skills it would be impossible to try a remote access (if they tried to use ITEM's resources to do it, then it would become possible, but Mugino would find out in a second). All they could do is run a nasty log search to find when the password was last used and the path the data traveled during that connection, which led them to their current destination.

After several minutes walking under the scorching sun, the finally arrived. "So, this is it?" Asked Kinuhata when the blond girl suddenly stopped.

"Yup. Basically all the cameras around this area can be subjected to have their recordings protected by that password at any given moment."

"I'm actually super impressed that you could find what the password was being used for on your own. I didn't knew you were super skilled with computers."

"Tehehehe, actually..." Frenda reaction spoke for itself.

"If it wasn't you, who was it?"

"Well... I have my personal sources. Lots of them~*!"

 _Suspicious. Super suspicious._ Kinuhata glared at Frenda, hoping to make her break under the pressure and spill out what she was hiding with no success. _Mugino makes it looks super easy..._ Sighing, she finally gave up. "I'll let this one slide for now. Anyway, what are we looking for here?"

"Hmm... I don't know yet." She announced while placing a finger on her lower lip, thinking about the matter.

"What?" The level 4 didn't try to hide her frustration. "You dragged me all the way here without a plan?!"

"We basically have no idea of why they would try to hide the recordings. I thought that maybe we could find some clues around here. If we don't, this is a dead end and we will have to give up."

"Or ask Mugino..."

"You mean, ask to die!"

"Yeah, that's a super bad idea... huh?" She suddenly trailed off mid sentence. Frenda followed her eyes and...

"What's going on there?" Less than 50 meters ahead of them, there was a building surrounded by yellow "keep out" tapes and two Anti-Skill vehicles were parked nearby.

"Hey, Frenda... wasn't somewhere close by that we lost track of the intruders?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it… yeah, it was… Wait, don't tell me you're thinking…"

"It seems your super slacky tactic worked for once." Smiling, the hoodie girl rushed forward, followed by her blonde teammate.

...

"... huh- Hey! You two! This area is off limits!" The person calling out for them was a female Anti-skill officer with her long hair tied in a ponytail. Taking advantage of the situation, Frenda turned towards her innocently to try to get some information. "Sorry, but what's happening here?"

The woman fell for it and lowered her tone a bit. "There was a fire in this dorm last evening. We are currently investigating the cause of it and inspecting the damages to the structure. That means it's dangerous there, so you can't get in. What are you two girls doing here anyway? This is the boys dorm. What school are you from?"

Kinuhata quickly thought up an excuse and took the lead. "We don't study in that school, but my older sister does. The three of us live together in an apartment nearby." Without giving a chance for the officer to inquire any further, she forced out her most innocent look possible and continued. "We came to meet one of her classmates that lives here. We all were going to the museum today. I wonder if he's alright..."

"Oh, I see…" The woman's expression softened and she hurriedly tried to cleanse the girl's worries. "Nobody got hurt, so he's probably fine. If you tell me his name I can find out where he..."

"Hey, Yomikawa! Can you come here for a second?"

The woman waved to her co-worker and left saying "Give me a moment, I'll be right back." Kinuaha and Frenda looked at each other with a slight grin. They were probably thinking the same thing.

"Basically, there was a fire where no one got hurt just besides the cameras with inaccessible data. Heheh, as if! There's no mistake, something big happened here!"

"At least, it can't just be a super coincidence." Taking a last look at the surroundings to confirm that no one was paying attention to them, she turned to her blond friend one last time. "Let's super break in before that woman gets back. We're gonna find out what this is all about."

Nimbly, they passed under the tapes and dashed inside the building.

 **Part 3**

Betraying their expectations, there were no officers inside. _This feels wrong... weren't they inspecting the building?_ They were already at the second floor and there were no signs of other people, but they had finally found signs of the fire. Unnatural signs, that is...

"Amazing... I have seen something super similar in a movie before, but I never expected to see it in real life." What laid before her eyes was a regular wall with burnt marks on it. No, not regular burnt marks. It had the shape of a cross slightly shifted to the right, as if someone had used an object with such shape, set it on fire and hit the wall with all their strength. "No... I don't think an Esper would be able to do that. Hey Frenda, what do you... huh?"

Turning around, Kinuhata noticed that Frenda was not there anymore. _What the... wasn't she following me this whole time? When did I super lost her?_ She tried to go back to the previous floor, but Frenda was nowhere to be seen. "Unbelievable... what she's doing?" Sighing heavily, she gave up on that for the time being and went back to the burnt wall.

On the floor, right beside the mark, there was a trail of the same coal like black and ashes that went upstairs. Kinuhata followed it, but soon she regretted doing so.

"..."

Silence. She was all alone in that place with eerie marks all over the place. The more she climbed, the weirder it became. The handrail and knobs were distorted as if the metal had molten, pieces of paper with unrecognizable scribbles were all over the place, and there were more cross marks on the walls, floor and ceiling. But that wasn't the worst part of it.

"What's... what's wrong... with me?" Her head was pulsing, her legs shaking, and her hands were sweating like a waterfall. She felt as if all the blood vessels inside her body were being compressed, getting thinner and thinner until the blood had no way to keep flowing. And still, her heartbeat just got faster.

One more staircase. How many of them had she climbed already? She had lost count at 30. Or was it 3? 13 perhaps? Her memory started fail her. She couldn't even remember what she was doing there anymore. Nor how had she got there. Nor that she could actually leave. She was all alone...

 _Wait... am I?_ Cold sweat covered her whole body once she realized. There was someone else... right there... right beside her...

Was there? She couldn't see it, but her subconscious knew for a fact that there was. It was just like when you faced a wall, closed your eyes and walked towards it. Your brain would feel the danger of hitting it and make your body stop. Just like that, Kinuhata was unable to reach out for this strange presence and confirm its existence. Surrounded by burn marks, fear had finally filled her whole body. _This thing... is super going to kill me. It'll tie me to a cross and set it on fire._

Driven by this fear, she ran for her life, reaching the next floor in a flash. But what she found there was...

"!"

There, lying in front of a certain door...

"Wha...wha..."

Blood. It was dried, but that certainly was blood. She was used to seeing this kind of thing, but the problem was... just above it...

It was a silhouette. Floating, surrounded by flames, holding a huge cross...

"...aahh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Without thinking, she ran towards the opposite direction. However, her sense of distance was in disorder. She reached the end of the corridor, hit the wall and collapsed towards outside the building.

...

When Kinuhata finally came to her senses, she was lying on her back in a back alley, beside the building she and Frenda were investigating. "Ugh... That's right... I fell from there, didn't I?"

If it wasn't for her offence armor, she would be dead by now. The asphalt underneath her was completely crushed and there were cracks of at least two meters long. _Just from which height did I...?_

She couldn't quite remember. With her mind fuzzy She tried her best to recall the events that had just transpired. "Just what in the world was that? Some kind of Telepathy?" Her eyes saw things, her body had felt things, but they felt... not real, now that she thought about it calmly. "Ah... they probably had sprayed some super hallucinogen chemistry in the air to keep people away. No wonder there weren't any officers inside... Wait, what about Frenda?!"

If she had fallen victim of the same trap as Kinuhata, that would explain her sudden disappearance earlier. Since Kinuhata was surrounded by nitrogen all the time, it would take longer for the substance to reach her lungs, thus Frenda must have been affected right when the first stepped inside.

The girl picked her phone from her pocket and dialed Frenda's number.

"... she's not picking it up." Only then she noticed... it was already almost three in the afternoon. _Maybe she had broken free from the super hallucination before me and left me behind..._ It was useless to insist on that, so she tried something different.

...

"Hello."

"Hi, Takitsubo-san. I super need your help."

 **Part 4**

July 21, 3:36 PM - South half of District 5.

Kinuhata had just met up with Takitsubo near the station. "Let's get this over with super fast. I don't like being surrounded by university students... they aren't much different from those super crazy researchers we have to eliminate every now and then."

"Hm... I feel the same." Answered the other girl. Though they weren't going to get rid of them while they were in this district, which was filled with universities of all sorts. "I already know where she is. We just need to go that direction."

"Did you super used "THAT" inside the train?" Asked Kinuhata. She was referring to the _special item_ Takitsubo had that allowed her to track down any Esper she ever came in contact with, no matter where in the solar system they were.

"No." She answered emotionlessly. "I found out where her phone is using a signal tracker". Indeed, there was a weird device attached to her phone. By calling any number with that plugged in, you could pinpoint the location of the receiving phone.

"That's super clever of you... but won't Mugino notice that this is missing?"

"That's why we have to be fast before she notices that even I am missing." The hoodie girl could only swallow dry and run as fast as she could.

However, they would soon give up all hope of finishing their business quickly.

The place where Frenda was supposed to be was filled with several Espers that seemed to be wildly brawling against each other, and the lost friend was nowhere to be seen. In a matter of seconds, the two girls got surrounded by people and were forced into the battle against their will. The street was a mess, attacks coming from all directions. Kinuhata had to protect Takitsubo while attacking back every now and then. Soon enough, she found out what was happening.

"Are all of them are actually attacking that single girl of Judgement... and are super losing to her?" Few minutes later, there were several bodies collapsed all around the place. Only three girls were left standing on that battlefield.

"Haah haaah... You two are the last ones... I suggest you surrender." Said the twin pigtailed girl wearing a Tokiwadai uniform.

"At your condition, you should be the one retreating. If I were to super attack you now, the battle would be over in less than ten seconds. You're all out of breath." Kinuhata pointed out. "Still, you managed to defeat most of them on your own... I think I super underestimated Judgement."

"Why, thank you. But don't worry about me, I could still take on another dozen of them. Do you really think you can defeat me when all of them at once couldn't?"

"... By the way, you're super mistaken. We never had any intention to fight. Everything was already super chaotic when we got here."

The judgment girl studied their frames once more and relaxed her stance. "Well, you two are way younger than the rest."

Takitsubo, which had stayed quiet since they had arrived, finally spoke up holding a cellphone in her hands. "Kinuhata… this was lying down on the ground right there."

Kinuhata checked it up close. The screen displayed several not answered calls. "This is Frenda's without a doubt. Just what happened to her?"

"Excuse me, but I'm not done with you two yet." The twin pigtailed girl seemed annoyed to be left out of the loop, with one hand on her hip and the other pointing to the cellphone on Takitsubo's hand "Also, this is under my custody. It was with me until a while ago, it must have fell from my pocket during the battle. Do you know whose it is?"

"Yes, it super belongs to our friend. We were super looking for her when we got here."

"I see… Unfortunately I can't just give it to you without any proof." Handling the scroll-like touch screen of her earphone device, the Tokiwadai girl opened up a small note and showed it to them. "Besides, Anti-Skill will have to check the memory of the device for any suspicious file. On that matter, do any of you know what this means? I found it written on the screen when I found it. It seems like the owner was trying to send it in a message to someone."

Kinuhata flinched for a mere tenth of a second. On the screen was written down the code they had found yesterday. _This is super bad. Who was Frenda trying to send it to? This sounds like… No, wait, this might be a super clue she left behind! She might have found something in that building after all!_ Still, Kinuhata didn't quite knew how to handle the girl in front of her.

"I'll take your silence as a no." Kinuhata considered killing the girl when she took Frenda's phone from Takitsubo's hand, but then decided against it from the time begin. After all, she would have to give some explanations later if she did so. Meanwhile, the girl received a call and answered it without placing the device back on her ear. It was hard to tell if she was using the speaker mode to keep handling the screen or if it was to let the other two hear it as well.

"Hi Uiharu. I have completed my patrols on district 5, there were just three distribution points around here. Have you found anything about the code I sent you earlier?"

"Yes, and I have really bad news, Shirai-san!" The panic in her voice made everyone frown at the same time. "I don't have time to explain, so I'll send it directly to you. The code was a Rank S classified information password that gave me access to these pictures taken by the satellite Hitoboshi-II yesterday close to midnight!"

 _Huh? Weren't this just to super unlock the recordings from those cameras?_ Interested, Kinuhata got closer to take a look on the pictures, followed by Takitsubo. What appeared on the screen was…

"WHAT?!"

"WHAT?!"

"THIS… IS… !"

Kuroko, Kinuhata and Takitsubo couldn't help but shout at the same time. Shaking, the former forced out a question. "U-Uiharu… isn't he…?"

"Yes, it's Hishiro-san!" Uiharu shouted desperately over the line. It felt as if she was trying not to cry.

"Unbelievable..." Even Kinuhata was at a loss of words. She was used to seeing gruesome images (and causing some herself) but seeing someone who had fought at her side just two days ago like this was a bit of a shock. Specially him, who had fought against ITEM alone and survived with just a burn on his back. What kind of monster could get him into this state, when not even a level 5 like Mugino managed to?

"H-huh? Is there someone with you right now, Shirai-san?"

"Yes- wait, do you two know him?" She turned her head to the side in surprise, swinging her pigtails.

"Yeah, we super knew him."

" _Knew_?"

"He is obviously super dead." Kinuhata voice was as cold as always, but her expression was not calm at all.

"D-Don't say such a thing, whoever you are!" Protested Uiharu with a shout that was out of character for her.

Takitsubo leaned forward and spoke her logic "Do you really believe that a human being could survive after this? Not to mention that these people probably didn't gave him the proper treatment. Most likely, they..." Finished the job. Though she didn't want to say it out loud.

Kuroko studied the picture for a few more seconds. The boy's body was a mess. There were cuts all over the place - possibly one or more of his members got completely severed. What was left of his clothes was completely drenched in blood, to the point it was impossible to recognize its original color. But the worst was just what Takitsubo pointed out. Men in black suits and several other suspicious people were scattered around him, some carrying him as if he was a dead body already. Letting out a heavy sigh, she made up her mind. "The level upper users can wait, I'm going after him. Uiharu, please make sure that Onee-sama, don't find out about this."

"Huh? Why? Misa-"

"Just don't tell her yet. The way she's hot headed and stubborn, she might..."

"... okay, I understand. I'll gather up more information to help you out."

"Thanks." Turning it off, she turned around and faced the other two, just to find their determination matched hers. "Sorry, I guess I won't be helping you with your missing friend."

"That's alright. It's her fault for getting super lost like this." Said Kinuhata, cracking her knuckles. "And if she found out what we just did, then going after him might super lead to her as well."

"I cannot take you with me. It's dangerous."

"We are going by ourselves regardless. Like I said, our friend might be super involved in this whole thing. And at your state, you could use some fighting power don't you?"

Kuroko was about to protest, but then she remembered all the unconscious bodies around her. _I hate to admit it, but it's true. I've been fighting nonstop against the level upper users since this morning. And they did manage to hold their own against all of them too…_ Annoyed at her own lack of power, she just turned around and walked away. Accepting it as an acknowledgement, Kinuhata and Takitsubo went after her.

 **Between the Lines**

Inside the spacious and dimly lit room, two people faced each other. One of them was the blond agent Tsuchimikado Motoharu. The other was the inhabitant of the cylindrical life support machine while floating upside down, the Chairman of Academy City: Aleister Crowley.

The latter was the first one to break the silence. "What's wrong? It's unusual for you to wear such a displeased face."

"You called me all of a sudden in the middle of the morning during my break. This can't be good news."

Aleister closed his eyes and made a slight motion that resembled a shrug. "They aren't bad news either... not yet, at least."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just something that's bothering me about yesterday's incident."

"Yesterday... Don't tell me you got mad because I left those people alive."

"Don't worry about that. They were properly dealt with."

 _You mean, properly disposed of._ Tsuchimikado remembered the faces of the ones he didn't killed. There was no remorse nor regret in his mind, but he didn't felt pride of leaving them for the dead either. Before he could give it more thought, Aleister continued.

"The issue is the recovery of the stolen info. Namely, the suitcase you brought back."

"I checked the contents before sending it and didn't find anything wrong."

"Indeed, the contents were intact. The problem is the suitcase itself." Several holographic screens appeared around the room, displaying multiple images of the object in question, plus recordings of the insides of the facility where the robbers were hiding. "After a close inspection, we confirmed that the suitcase you bought isn't the one they were carrying inside the facility 5 minutes before you got your hands on it."

"Huh? This can't be right..." Tsuchimikado narrowed his eyes hidden behind the sunglasses. "Because, if it was the wrong one, then..."

"The contents should be wrong as well." The boy started to think of a few possibilities that could have resulted in that scenario, but as if reading his mind, Aleister shot them down on the spot. "Of course, the possibility of they trying to fool us with a fake one is already discarded. An Esper had gone through the memories of the two you mentioned earlier and it seems that not even them were aware that the case was swapped."

"Then... this can only mean... there is a third party involved?"

"Correct."

"But, if that's the case... what would they want to accomplish by taking away the container and leaving the important pieces behind?"

"Unfortunately, not even I have the answer for that. And that's the reason I called you here."

* * *

 **Well… it's been a while. A little more than a month since the last update. I got really busy lately and didn't had enough time to focus on writing. And when I write in a rush, the story just don't turn out as good. I literally had to rewrite this chapter from the start because of that. I hope I didn't scared anyone, thinking that I had abandoned the fic! As I said before, I love doing this and I won't turn my back to it anytime soon. Fortunately, things are starting to get calmer now, so the next update shouldn't take more than 2 weeks, which is my usual peace (or not… I need to read the new volume of New Testament that just came out, after all… XP).**

 **Now that these explanations are out of the way… Yup, Hishiro is out of the play for now (obviously… poor guy), so someone else had to fill the MC slot. Since Frenda got a special spotlight last time, I decided it was Kinuhata's turn to shine. At first, I was intending to leave Hishiro unmentioned for quite some chapters but when I thought about Kuroko and Kinuhata fighting together, I just had to grab the chance, and Hishiro was the only thing they have in common.**

 **And the Between the Lines is back. This time, giving a few hints of what's about to come instead of what had happened in the past. I'm thinking to use a different theme for this section each Arc, but I'm not sure I will follow this rule until the end. For now: the first arc was about Pointer. Can you figure out already what is the theme now?**

 **As always, leave your reviews. And a special thanks to the guest(s) that always find typos that I somehow miss. In the end, they are helping making the fic better!**


	8. Blood Trail

**II**

 **Chapter 8: Coincidence Meeting, Rescue Operation!**

 **Blood_Trail**

 **Part 1**

Zap - Zap - Zap

At regular and short intervals, the three girls instantly travelled a distance of roughly eighty meters. This was just possible thanks to the ability of the level 4 teleporter Shirai Kuroko, who was holding hands with Kinuhata Saiai and Takitsubo Rikou to bring them along every time she warped through space.

"Shirai-san, tu - rn left on the next stree - t, then go forward - for another two ki - lometers and you'll r - each the car!" Uiharu's instructions arrived through her communication device. The signal got cut for a moment every time she teleported.

"Understood!" Kuroko followed the instructions and covered the distance in a record time of thirty seconds.

They were currently chasing a black car that was present on the image they got from hacking the satellite Hitoboshi II fifteen minutes earlier. Since they had no idea where those men in black had took Hishiro, this was their only precious clue. Uiharu searched quickly for the car with the same plate and, luckily enough, it was running on the neighbor District 4. From there, they pursued the vehicle all the way to District 14 close to the city wall.

"I can see it!" Said kinuhata as she pointed towards it. "It's super turning right... that's the direction of the road that goes outside the city!"

"That means there won't be any civil buildings in the way... perfect!" Kuroko smile almost seemed bloodthirsty as she pointed out.

"Don't charge in recklessly." Warned Takitsubo. "Those three trucks close to it don't seem to be regular cargo ones."

"In that case, there's going to be a lot of them... this is going to get super huge."

"Leave it to me! I'll open enough space for us!" Proclaiming that, she increased the peace of her warps and got several meters ahead of the vehicles. She then picked something that looked like a gun and shoot it upwards.

The shot exploded in the sky like a signal flare. Everyone in the road made quite a ruckus trying to get out of the way. Those who lived in the city knew that this signal was an order to evacuate. Of course, those inside the car and the trucks would also know that, but Kuroko had already took the necessary precautions to keep them from running away.

The four vehicles drifted, trying to turn 180 degrees without success. All their tires were pierced by steel darts teleported by the twin pig tailed girl. Just as she expected, their targets were isolated together with the three girls in the road with no escape routes. Satisfied, she stepped forward and yelled "This is Judgement! Surrender yourselves!"

Without wasting any second, five people left the car - each of them carrying a submachine gun - and started to fire without mercy. Kuroko teleported away to avoid getting hit. Kinuhata jumped in front of Takitsubo to protect her from the rain of bullets.

Kuroko reappeared right behind the five men and pierced their guns with needles, neutralizing them. She then dropkicked one of the man on his head, knocking him down, and teleported away once again before they could counterattack.

While they were confused, Kinuhata tackled the foremost man, sending him flying. Two other came for her and sent punches for her head, but she grasped their fists and pulled them down, smashing them on the asphalt.

The last one - apparently the younger of the group - noticed that it was useless to go for a hand to hand combat and threw his damaged gun at her. Kinuhata punched it on reflex, her arm pierced right through it destroying the object in dozens of pieces that continued to fly at her direction. None of them harmed her because of her Offence Armor, but it delayed enough for the man to reach one of the trucks. From its cargo, he got an large sniper rifle and pointed at the hoddie girl confidently. "Try and survive that! Ahahahaha- Guha!"

Before he had the chance to pull the trigger, Kuroko teleported in front of him and kicked his gut with all her strength, driving him unconscious.

But it wasn't over yet.

Mechanical noises rang from the inside of the other two trucks. Their containers opened, revealing a couple of powered suits inside each. Without delay, the machines charged toward the girls, ready to fire their high caliber guns and smash them with large cowbar-like tools.

"Now the situation got a little complicated..." Complained Kuroko. She was almost at the limit of her stamina after all the fighting and chasing she had done that day.

Kinuhata wasn't liking this turn of events either. _To fight against all four of them at the same time is going to be a super pain. If at least either Mugino or Frenda were here… just one more would be enough._ Deciding that it was better to take the initiative this time, she ran for the black car, teared the door away from the vehicle and launched it at the closest suit.

It was an obvious attack. The machine fired its gun at the incoming object rapidly, obstructing its path. What wasn't obvious though was that the car itself had been launched as well right after the door. The pilot couldn't react in time and the car crashed at the powered suit and exploded, knocking the machine to the ground.

Two from the three remaining foes went after Kinuhata, leaving a single one for Kuroko to take care of. The armor swung down the massive crowbar multiple times, forcing the twin pig tailed girl to jump out of the attack range again and again. At some point, the blunt weapon pierced the asphalt and got struck.

"Way too slow!" Before it could be pulled back, Kuroko touched it and teleported it to inside the leg of the powered suit, piercing the area slightly under the knee articulation and sending sparks flying all over the place. Unable to move anymore, the machine recurred to his gun, but Kuroko had already foreseen what it would do. She teleported to the armor's shoulder and lightly kicked the helmet visor. The pilot must have panicked because the armor started to make weird movements trying to shake the girl off until it lost its balance and fell to the ground. Meanwhile Kuroko jumped off, grabbed the crowbar again and teleported it inside the arm.

The result was a powered suit pinned to the ground by by its own weapon piercing its arm. "I see you're not very used to pilot those things, nor to deal with teleporters, am I right?" Mocked the girl wearing a satisfied smile. She then looked over her shoulder to see how her partner was doing.

One of the remaining suits was on fire and completely trashed at the edge of the road. The other one was struggling, trying to smash Kinuhata with the crowbar while she held it in place with a single lifted hand. "Give up. You super can't outpower me." Kinuhata slowly twisted the object in her grip, moving the armor's arm in an angle that it wasn't supposed to. But before she could break it, her enemy pointed the large gun at her and fired thrice, sending her a few meters back.

 _She's brutal..._ Thought Kuroko, as she approached to help. She picked four darts and teleported them to specific points on the gun, rendering it useless. Both Kinuhata and the pilot noticed that it couldn't shoot anymore, and the hoodie girl dashed to give the final blow.

"Wait, Kinuhata! There's an Esper-" Takitsubo tried to warn her friend from the distance, but it was already too late. Kinuhata suddenly stopped on her tracks, lost balance and fell to her knees - but her suddenly cold feet never left the ground. From her knees on, the lower part of her legs were suddenly frozen solid. Literally covered by a thick layer of ice.

"Haha! I was just trying to freeze the asphalt to make you slide, but damn, that's fantastic!" The scornful voice came from the inside of the powered suit. The pilot pushed the helmet open and jumped off the armor. "The deal may have ended in an utter failure because of you, but I guess I'll be getting an reward far more valuable than all that money."

The pilot was a young man - probably between nineteen and twenty two years old - with pitch black short hair and wearing a red racing suit. "For some reason, you seem to be vulnerable to my freezing techniques... Hahaha, I'm gonna have a lot of fun with you, little doll!"

"Oh... I got it..." Kinuhata quickly analyzed her enemy's ability while she still was all on fours "You use nitrogen to super freeze things. That's why I can't break free of this." The man didn't confirmed nor denied and simply walked forward towards her while smirking. But he couldn't reach her in time.

Kuroko got to Kinuhata's side first and teleported her away from the ice sticking on her legs. "Are you alright?"

"This was nothing." Her ankles almost sprinkled and the cold hurt her skin, but this was really nothing when compared to what Hishiro had done to her a few days ago. "But his ability is super troublesome to deal with using mine. I probably got lucky it just affected my legs. Next time I might freeze to death inside an ice coffin."

Kuroko didn't understand what nitrogen had to do with the inhuman strength and endurance Kinuhata had displayed until now, but the phenomena that had just happened was proof enough that the situation was dangerous for her. So she stepped forward and stood in between the man and her ally, glaring coldly at him. "You can't win by yourself. Leave her alone and surrender."

"Really lady... do you seriously believe that I would stop after finding that interesting toy just because you're asking?"

"No... actually not. You don't seem to be smart enough to back off when confronting someone you can't defeat." Her retort was accompanied with the eerie shine of her last darts teleporting to her hands. "But these are Judgement regulations, so I have to ask anyway."

"Since when do you care about the regulations this much, Shirai-san?" Uiharu's voice got her by surprise. She had already forgotten that the girl was hearing everything through the communicator.

"Someone I can't defeat? You're messing with me." As soon as the male said that, the asphalt around him suddenly turned cold and got covered with a thin layer of ice. "The day I lose to someone of your age is the day I give up being an Esper."

"Are you sure about that? You never fought against anyone from Tokiwadai before, did you?"

"There's a first time for everything. And the first time is the most exciting!" Without taking his feet from the ground, the man closed his distance to the girls in a flash. On raw reflex, Kuroko grabbed Kinuhata's hand and teleported out of the way before he could freeze her again. But once they reappeared, they lost their balance on the slippery ice covered asphalt and fell on their backs.

"H-how did he got to us so fast?"

"Look! I don't know how it works, but he can super slide and move freely on the ice!" Kuroko turned to see what Kinuhata was talking about. Neither of his feet were moving. He glided on the surface unnaturally at tremendous speed without effort.

His ability wasn't that strong. Putting what happened to Kinuhata a moment ago aside, the layer of ice was very thin and fragile, to the point that once he got far enough, it would instantly melt without a trace. He should probably be classified as a level 2 if that was all. But the problem was the range of effect and his ability to move freely over it. That made difficult for any opponent to close in and gave him high chances to dodge long range attacks due to his speed.

"Here he comes again!" Kuroko tried to teleport out of the way again but against her expectations, only Kinuhata warped away, leaving herself defenseless to the upcoming attack. The man reached her and punched her face, sending her sliding several meters until she hit the side of the truck. Before she could recover, he had reached her again and wrapped his hand on her neck, choking her. "Ghhh...!"

"HAHAHA! What's wrong, young lady? I'm still waiting for this someone I can't defeat! Where is she, huh?!" She tried to teleport again, but under these circumstances she couldn't concentrate enough to do the needed calculations. Her best option was to try to get out of this situation by teleporting something smaller. With her darts still on her left hand, she aimed for the male's shoulder and...

"Gwah-! Wha- what have you done!?" The sudden sharp pain forced him to let go his grasp, freeing Kuroko as he desperately reached for the source of the pain. The dart digging deep inside the back of his upper arm. "You little...!" Filled with rage he attempted to stomp on the twin pigtailed girl, but she saw it coming and avoided by rolling to the side. She quickly stood up and sent a high kick to his neck, but because of the slippery floor she couldn't gather enough strength to knock him down. After taking the weak strike, he slapped her with the back of his hand, sending her sliding on the ground again.

However, this time he couldn't keep his assault because a huge chunk of metal came flying his way. It wasn't a clean hit because he noticed on the last moment and sidestepped, but it managed to hit his already injured arm. "For someone so interested on your new toy, you forgot about me super fast. Is she really more fun to play with?" Another mass of scrap - that used to belong to the powered suit - came flying following Kinuhata's taunt. This time the male managed to avoid it completely by sliding on the frozen asphalt.

"If you want to play with me so much, be prepared to die!" His anger blinded him and he dashed towards the hoddie girl without noticing the cylindrical object she had kicked to Kuroko. She received the item and caught on what her partner was planning just by glancing on it.

The man was just a few steps away from getting Kinuhata inside the area of effect of his ability when it happened. Zap - Something suddenly appeared right in front of him and started spraying an unknown substance all over his body. He could move fast on ice, but a surprise attack at this range was impossible to avoid no matter how quick one was to react, specially because he was already moving forward at his monstrous speed. "Cough Cough! Cough! What the hell is this?!"

"It's nitrogen." Announced Kinuhata while grinning devilishly. "Can you super guess what's going to happen to you now?"

"Wait, you don't mean-" He couldn't finish his line. In an instant, his whole body got enveloped by ice. It was way worse than what had happened to Kinuhata before, the ice this time was at least forty centimeters thick.

"Amazing… not even I thought it was going to cover him completely. Looks like the concentration of nitrogen in the air super buffs the effect beyond his control. I wonder if he breathed in some of it? If so, his lungs must be super gone by now." The hoodie girl examined curiously the work of art from many different angles. "It's really a scary ability. I don't envy him one bit."

"Why were you carrying that spray with you in the first place?" Asked Kuroko out of curiosity.

"... That's a lady's secret."

 _I thought we were supposed to use this line on men only…_ "Anyway, we need to take him out of there quickly." Kuroko approached the ice statue. "I can't use my teleportation for a while, so lend me a hand."

"Why? We had a lot of trouble to get him stuck inside this thing."

"You… can't be serious, right?" Kinuhata looked serious though. It may sound comical, but getting your whole body frozen like this was no joke. Risks of hypothermia aside, there shouldn't be enough air to breath inside there. He could really die in a matter of a few minutes if nothing was done.

Thankfully, Takitsubo left her safe cover and convinced her friend. "Kinuhata, wouldn't be a better idea to question him instead?"

"Oh, that's right. We need information on his whereabouts. In that case… baaamm..." She nonchalantly karate-chopped the huge ice cube and it's upper part cracked and fell apart, freeing the man's head which was enough for her goal.

"Gaahh… I'm alive? I-I can breath? Uuugh - it's so cold!"

"Yeah, you're alive… but your body temperature will keep super dropping, so you're not safe yet."

His head jerked - it was impossible to tell if it was a shiver from the cold or if it was panic caused by her words. "H-hey, c'mon. Can-can you take me outta here?" Everything he got as response was a stare from the three girls colder than the ice around him. "L-listen! There's a representative o-of a huge enterprise waiting f-for us outside of the walls. P-part of the cargo got damaged, but the guns i-inside the truck are still in one piece! They are n-no regular guns either. I-I'm talking about Academy City's exclusive model, t-the Metal Eater! W-we can make a lot of money! I-I promise to let keep the larger part- no, everything! You can keep everything! Just let me go, please!"

"Wait, you are weapon smugglers?" Inquired Kuroko.

"N-no, w-we were just taking c-care of the t-transport. T-that's all we d-do, we transport t-things unofficially. S-so there won't be a problem if a cargo just d-disapeared..."

"We are not interested in the money." Kinuhata cuted in harshly. "Instead, answer this: by any chance, were you transporting a person last night?"

"H-huh?"

"A person, a corpse, anything with a similar shape or that could be carrying something of this size inside. It super happened very late in the night. Any bells ringing?"

"I… I don't know… Ghh - it's too cold to remember anything inside here!"

"Just so you know, I have no intention of releasing you if you're useless to us."

"Okay okay, wait! There's something! I don't k-know what the cargo was, but last night w-we did an weird delivery… that might b-be what you're talking about!"

"To who?"

"I-I don't know! We went all the way to district 10 and left it an alley! There was no one there to pick it up… sorry, but that's all I know!"

Both Kinuhata and Kuroko crossed their arms at the same time. An alley in district 10 - that probably meant two things: it was delivered to members of Skill-out, or it was left in a covered area where the satellite can't detect. Both of them were equally hopeless possibilities.

"Uiharu, are you still there? What do you think?"

"This is bad, Shirai-san… I can try to track down the vehicle's route last night and verify which alley he is talking about, but it will take a while… and even if I do this, they are being extremely careful to get through the surveillance system, so I'm not confident that it'll be easy to identify who picked him up after he was left there."

"And we don't have this much time..." Reminded Kuroko. She was starting to get irritated by now.

Takitsubo and Kinuhata exchanged glances and nodded to each other. They had a last trump card to find him. "Well, there's no point in wasting time here. We just have to use another super method. C'mon."

"W-wait! Aren't you forgetting about me! Hey!" The three girls simply ignored the desperate calls of the ice-man. Uiharu had already contacted Anti-Skill to pick him up and to look into the smuggling business.

 **Part 2**

"Alright… that should be enough fuel for a few more hours." Proclaimed Kuroko after finishing her snack. They were forced to stop at a foreign looking restaurant for a while. Their fastest way to move around the city was Kuroko's teleportation ability, but she was too exhausted after the battle for another marathon in the 11th dimension. And Kinuhata had not eaten anything since this morning because of what happened in the dorm they were investigating, followed by the disappearance of Frenda, so the short fifteen minutes break was a welcomed luxury. "Well then… you sounded like you had a plan when we left the road. How are we going to find him now?"

"She's super working on that right now." Kinuhata pointed to Takitsubo beside her. The black haired girl was acting weird. Her pupils had shrunk, her head was shaking unnaturally and she was staring into the nothingness. She was also crunching something... Kuroko doubted that it was a piece of the pie she was eating just now.

 _What is she doing? Clairvoyance?_ Kuroko could just tilt her head and wonder.

"I found him." Takitsubo said after a few seconds in that state. "He is inside an underground facility… in this direction… by the distance, it's probably the northern area of district 7… no, there's no mistake, it's underneath the building west to the park at the border of district 7 with district 1."

The twin pigtailed girl widened her eyes, impressed with the skills of the other girl. "Amazing… you can say that with such precision..."

"That's not all." Added Kinuhata. "If she can see him, then there's no doubt that he's still super alive."

"REALLY?!" Kuroko shouted and stood up hurriedly. "Then we need to get there as soon as possible! We may still make it in time!"

But Takitsubo continued before they could leave. "Wait. I also found Frenda... that's not good. She is heading to our place in district 3. If she meet up with Mugino there, we..."

"WHAT?!" This time, Kinuhata lost her temper and hit the table with both hands. "What's that super idiot thinks she's doing?!" Her desperation wasn't baseless at all. If Frenda returns and tell Mugino that she doesn't know what happened to the other two, Mugino probably would search for them, and if she discovered they were trying to rescue Hishiro, then... "We need to stop her somehow! And we can't even call her because the idiot super lost her phone!"

"Leave it to me." Takitsubo kept her emotionless tone even in front of the disaster. "You two go after the boy. I'll deal with Frenda. If you get into trouble, I'll ask her to join you."

"Are you sure? Aren't you going to feel dizzy after doing this?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm not good with fights, but I can at least help with that."

The hoddie girl knew that her concerns wouldn't be enough to make her give up. "... okay. But don't push yourself too hard." She then turned back to Kuroko, who has been left out of the loop for a while. "Let's go."

...

They arrived at the building in question. It was a commercial Skyscraper, meant to deal with business related with the outside of Academy City. But Kuroko found it suspicious. "Weird... I thought that the company responsible for that was located on District 16."

"It is." Kinuhata confirmed. "This is a super facade for what this place actually is."

"And what it actually is?"

"Who knows... Maybe it's better for us if we don't find out." Kinuhata shrugged. Given how things escalated into a clash with an organization that seemed to be of considerable size, she wanted to finish this as soon as possible without drowning too deep into their secrets. "By the way, it should be a good idea to hide this from now on."

"Huh?" Kuroko followed her eyes – she was referring to the Judgement band attached to her arm. "Why? This represents my authority as a member of Judgement so-"

"That's exactly why." She cut in with a serious tone. "If you think that you're authority means anything inside there, you should just stay behind. We're dealing with people that confined that boy in an almost dead state. Common sense doesn't apply to them."

"But-"

"Remember, we're not here to super take down an evil organization. We're here to rescue him. If you don't keep that in mind, you're going to be swallowed by them in a flash."

The pigtailed girl thought about the meaning of these words. A member of the branch 177 of judgement shouldn't be doing what they were about to do. The _correct_ way to act in that situation should be calling Anti-Skill so they could investigate, and only act later once they had evidence.

But she, as Shirai Kuroko, couldn't wait. That person needs her help as a human being, not as a part of this city system. She had to act as an individual, just like that other girl beside her who didn't need to get involved in the first place (even though she seemed to be very used to this). That's what her onee-sama would do in this situation as well. Sighing, she took off the band. "I understand. We are going to get this done no matter what!"

They nodded at each other and headed forward. Rounding the building once, they found small dark entrance near the garage with stairways that led to an underground facility, probably the one Takitsubo referred to. The place was like a maze made of pure white concrete, with the exception of the dark steel floor. They kept walking there for about ten minutes, avoiding being spotted with the help of Kuroko's teleportation.

"That's not working at all." Said Kinuhata, fed up of walking aimlessly. "We're never going to find where he is confined like this."

"I agree, but... what else can we do? We don't know the place, so we have to search each and every room."

"We don't, but they super do know." The hoddie girl grinned as another person was approaching from the other edge of the corridor. Kuroko quickly caught on and teleported them both to behind the person. Kinuhata then jumped at him clamped his mouth and bought him down to the floor. Then Kuroko teleported them to inside an empty room they had just been (and had follow on feet due to the limits of her ability).

"We don't have much time, so I won't ask twice. Where are you keeping the boy named Hishiro Yamazaki? If you don't answer, I'll just super kill you and ask someone else."

When Kuroko entered the room, Kinuhata had the man pinned on the floor holding a knife to his throat. "I never heard this name, bu-but the prison ward is on the second lower floor."

"And how do we get there?"

"There's an elevator turning right on the third intersection at the end of this corridor. But you need an ID to- GAH!"

Kinuhata hit his head with the handle of the knife, knocking him out, and pocketed it. "That won't be necessary. We got a super master key with us."

"M-me, huh..." Kuroko could only smile wryly at the girl's comment. "Where did you even got this knife?"

"He tried to fight back using it. It's super self-defense."

"I-If you say so..." Though it didn't look this way at all. They followed the path the man instructed them, went to the penultimate floor, but when they were about to get to the door sealing the ward several guards blocked their paths and started shooting at them.

"Tsk... I should've guessed. That guy was being too cooperative." Kinuhata took the frontline to intercept the bullets While Kurko used her darts to damage their guns. Unable to shoot anymore, the guards took out knives, batons, stun guns among several other close range weapons and charged towards the two girls. Kinuhata took their attacks head on, but none managed to even scratch her. Then the girls both counter attacked, finishing them off in seconds.

"More of them!" Kuroko spotted reinforcements coming from both sides. She quickly drew more darts to disable their weapons while Kinuhata knocked them out. The pattern repeated a few times until Kuroko started to run out of darts.

 _They don't even try to change their tactics even though they must super know that their weapons aren't going to work on us, and keep trying to overwhelm us with numbers instead. Could they be... the same group that super attacked the private saloon the other day?_ If this was a LIZARD headquarters as Kinuhata suspected, then it would be useless to keep fighting back. They felt no sense of danger and kept coming until their enemies couldn't fight anymore.

"We can't keep this going on for much longer! Can you super teleport us out of their sight?"

"I think I can, but it won't help much. They'll be alert and will keep searching for us."

"That's fine, we just need five minutes to pick him up and get the super hell out of here!"

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Kuroko nodded at her. Kinuhata took out her knife and threw it at the LED lamp, destroying it. In the dark, Kuroko held Kinuhata's hand and teleported them multiple times around the corridor to confuse the enemy and then inside a cell in the prison ward. There, they waited a few seconds until the army dispersed and they started to search for the boy, using the teleportation to avoid contact again.

To their surprise, however, none of the cells had any prisoner. None except the last one, but the prisoner in the last cell was actually a guard tied to a bed that seemed to be taken out of an hospital room. Upon closer inspection, the bed was bloodied, but there were no signs of injury in the guard, meaning the blood belonged to someone else. Not to mention there was a faint trail of blood leading outside the cell, which simply ended in two meters or so. There was no doubt that something had happened inside there. "What do you think?"

"The same as you, probably. Whoever was being kept here super tricked the guard, beaten him and got away on his own."

"Yeah. And by the looks of it…" Kuroko noticed scraps of cloth on the ground that seemed to once be part of a winter coat or a jacket. "I mean, with all this blood… the one who was here before probably was..."

"How in the world he managed to escape on his own in that condition?" It was hard to accept, but there was no other explanation to what had happened here. Kuroko didn't noticed, but the guard wasn't alive. With no visible injury, one possible cause of death was a heart attack. "How ungrateful can he be. We super came all this way to help him..."

His current state was impossible to confirm. Even if he had left the place, they couldn't be sure how long he would last. All they knew was that when they were eating less than an hour ago, Takitsubo confirmed that he was here. Kuroko wanted to investigate a little more, but they had no time left, as the guards were heading this way. They were forced to leave the base without knowing what was actually going on.

 **Between the Lines**

She couldn't understand what was going on at all.

After she set a foot inside the dorm building everything around her became blurred and distorted, as if it was a mirage in the middle of a desert. And her companion, Kinuhata, had literally faded away into nothingness in front of her eyes.

She was currently inside the building, there was no mistake about that. But it felt like a completely different place. Actually, it felt completely different from reality itself, to the point that she had to question herself if it wasn't just a dream.

As the blond girl explored the place to try and grasp the situation, she reached the rooftop without even noticing. There she saw another person standing near the edge of the building, looking at the street below. Even though she didn't made any noise, the person felt her presence and slowly turned towards her. "Oh my... that's unexpected."

It was a man wearing a gray hooded robe. It was impossible to clearly see his face because of his hood and blur effect constantly wavering the image before her eyes, but he wore a gentle smile and his voice sounded calm, even though the whole situation was unnatural. "If I'm not mistaken you're... Frenda Seivelun, correct?"

Astonished, Frenda could only nod blankly at the figure in front of her. The man seemed to be amused by her reaction. "Ufufufu... This is a little too early than what was originally planned for introductions like this, but... My name is Rázval Serafin. It's a pleasure to meet you, child of men." With exaggerated movements, he courteously bowed at her as if inviting her for a dance in an european style party. The girl just kept staring, unsure on how to respond.

Before the silence dragged on, the man named Rázval continued. "It really is a curious and beautiful work of fate for you to be standing on where you currently are. I wonder if it was your ability as an Esper that made such event possible... Oh, please forgive me, I shouldn't be talking to myself during our blissful encounter. You must be rather confused... Tell me, my dear, do you have any idea of what this place is?"

The girl shakes her head from side to side, unable to speak. The man explained. "This is a gap between planes, formed by the concentration of the unconscious energy released by the inhabitants of Academy City. You probably know it by the name Imaginary Number District."

Her body jerked after a little delay when she understood Rázval's words. But how could it be? First of all, no one was sure if the district really existed or not. Sure, there was the recent document released by Kihara Gensei that could prove it, but even that was questionable by itself, since Gensei was disappeared and believed to be dead. And second, even if it's real... how come she managed to get into it? Rázval said it could be because of her ability, but she doubted that someone on her level could do this feat without even trying.

In any case, there were several scary rumors about the District that Frenda never payed much attention to, but right now she started to remember about them and it terrified her. Something like going from one district to another at specific times of the day could trap a person there with no way to go back. However, the gray man explanation eased her fears to some point. "Well, to be more accurate, we are not inside this place. It's impossible for our bodies made of flesh to exist there, so I created an isolated space for the purpose of simply observing this plane. And you somehow managed to break right inside it, which is a miracle in many ways. If you were a higher level Esper, your body probably wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure and... who knows what could happen. Ufufufufu..." His words were mostly incomprehensible, but she got the main idea. Just now she noticed how her body felt lighter than usual... so this was some kind of vision after all.

Rázval lifted his hand towards her, inviting her to get closer. "There is no need to be afraid, my dear. Come, let us watch the magnificence of this world together." With slow steps, Frenda carefully approached the edge of the building and looked bellow, exactly like he was when she arrived. Down there, several people could be seen walking on the streets and doing their own things like you normally see on Academy City.

No, there was something wrong. She couldn't tell what it was, but something was out of place there. "Can you see it? Take a closer look there." On the direction Rázval was pointing at, there was a little boy and a woman - probably his mother - happily chatting together as they got inside a car. The vehicle turned on and headed down the street... nothing unusual. Until...

"!"

A business man that looked to be on a hurry was standing on the bus stop nearby. Once the car got close to it, it changed into a bus and it let the man inside. What had happened to the woman and the boy? Frenda couldn't tell, but the bus seemed to be empty. "In this world, each and every existence is eternal and ephemeral at the same time. One being disappears and is immediately replaced by another one that better fulfill the immediate needs of the society as a whole. Perhaps it would be better to say that they shift into someone - or something - more useful for the moment. It is a fascinating, cruel and utopic system, isn't it?" Frenda couldn't share the man's enthusiasm, but it piqued her interest. She saw an old lady turn into a dog and later into a police officer in less than a minute... and several of similar phenomenons were happening all around the city. Everything and everyone worked together in perfect synchrony in order to keep the whole system functioning, as if the city was a living being.

After a few minutes, Rázval spoke once again. "It's a shame, but I'll have to send you back now. Just like the people down there, you have your own role to fulfil on the other side, so it's risky to keep you here any longer." He took some steps on her direction and literally placed his hand on her pocket, grabbing her cell phone. For some weird reason, she felt no danger nor any awkwardness from the action. He had an aura of serenity around him that almost did not allow her to doubt him for even a second. "I'll be lending this for a moment, if you don't mind. Your friends seems to be worried about you, so we better let them know that you are fine, right?"

The image of her phone on his hand became more and more blurry, and then with a weird noise, it simply wasn't there anymore. Just as if it was teleported by an Esper. "Well then... it was quite pleasant to be on your company. I hope from the bottom of my heart that we can see each other again soon." With these words, he patted the girl's head... and she vanished in the exact same way her phone had a moment ago.

...

Rázval was the only one left on the rooftop, with a somehow sad and lonesome smile on his face. "How interesting... the Seivelun sisters really are exceptions among the Exceptions." His plans for today were utterly ruined by this turn of events, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. Instead, he was eager to understand what was the meaning of this meeting. "Is she perhaps our missing Eve in this game board? Or... just another forbidden fruit, waiting to be eaten?"

* * *

 **Welcome back! This time, an action filled chapter! What do you think of Kinuhata and Kuroko tag team? I sure had a lot of fun writing their fights and interactions, I hope you guys felt the same while reading.**

 **Meanwhile, Frenda… well… I won't comment on that yet. I want to hear your thoughts on that first, if there are any. One thing I can say though: More OCs are coming. For those who don't like that - I'm sorry! But it's either that, or I would have to change the events of the main story, which I don't want to do (yet... He he he he).**

 **Someone said that Hishiro won't survive long if he kept prying on Aleister's business. I haven't said anything about that back then because I wanted to answer it through the story. Do you still think that? Or not? For the record, I have no problem killing him off if the story heads a certain direction (honestly, I haven't decided which of my ideas for the middle and the ending I'm going to follow), but he isn't going down so easily. He also have a lot of people backing him up from behind the scenes, even though he might not like to admit it… but that's the theme of the next chapter, so I won't get into details.**

 **Again, special thanks to the Guest(s) helping out with prof reading. I can't believe the amount of stuff that keeps escaping my (blind) eagle's eye before I publish. Your reviews are much appreciated!**

 **As always, leave your thoughts on the reviews! See you guys soon (hopefully)!**


	9. Breakdown

**II**

 **Chapter 9: Gate of the Imaginary Number District**

 **Breakdown**

 **Part 1**

The first thing he felt was an almost unbearable pain that seemed to spread from the tip of his toes to the top of his head. It was as if several parts of his body were torn apart ad then sewed back with a thick needle and a steel line without any anesthesia. It was so strong that even though he wanted to scream his lungs out, he couldn't build up the strength to move a single finger.

The pain finally started to die out a little after a few minutes and he dared to try opening his eyelids. The daylight was blinding and it gave him an immediate headache, but he forced himself to study his surroundings. It was a simple white room with a window and a small table with a vase and red flowers on it close to a chair. He was laying down on a bed, and there was something attached to his right arm - it was a tube linked to a recipient of transparent liquid, probably some kind of drug or medicine being injected directly into his veins.

 _Ah… It's a hospital room._ Upon reaching this conclusion, he remembered what had happened to him. _That's right, I was going after the nun and then I fought that woman… I thought that this time I was gone for sure._ His body was hurting, but with enough effort he could move his limbs with no problem. He had somehow miraculously survived that sure-kill attack in one piece... kinda.

There were a lot of questions on his mind and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but even though he had just woken up, he was too tired to stand up on his own. Giving up to his fate, he sunk on the bed once again and decided to take as much rest as he could. It annoyed him, but it would be for the best if he focused on recovering his energy for now.

A few hours passed and someone finally entered his room. "... Oh, I wasn't expecting to find you awake so soon. You are really one of a kind, boy. Even among my patients."

White coat. Old looking. Frog like face. Without even asking he could tell that this man was a doctor, even though he looked a bit weird.

"So soon, huh... just how long have I been asleep?"

"Two days." Said the doctor as he walked closer and started to check the medicine's recipient. "Though I thought you would be fainted for at least a week. You should consider yourself lucky."

Hearing that, the boy could only smile wryly. "I can't exactly complain at least. I wasn't expecting to survive that one."

"You were in a critical state, indeed, but it was more from the shock and blood loss than your actual injuries. I'm afraid they left some light scars on your torso, but they are mostly healed by now. Whatever hurt you did a good job avoiding your vital organs."

"That doesn't bother me… I've got plenty of those already." The doctor probably wanted to ask about the previous scars because he almost said something, but hesitated and gave up. The boy turned his attention to the calendar on the wall displaying July 23. _That's odd… I was pretty sure it was the 20th last time I remember, but I supposedly sleep for only 2 days._

"By the way, doctor… how did I get to the hospital?"

"A girl brought you here. She said she was your friend and was nearby when you got hurt. Don't you remember?"

 _A… friend? A girl nearby when I got hurt? This doesn't sounds right…_ The only female he could think of that was nearby was the person that almost got him killed to begin with. He had to lie to gather more information and try to fill the gap to understand the situation. "No… A-actually, I don't remember exactly what I was doing when it happened, nor who was with me."

"Is that so? Well, temporary memory loss is common in cases such as yours. The girl in question was young and small… I was quite surprised to see her being able to drag you all the way here on her own. She's been visiting you every day ever since, always after your checkup. Actually, she could be here any moment now."

He felt a shiver. From the description, he could almost tell who it was, but… it couldn't be, could it? She had no reason to save him… she had no reason to get involved in this side of the world anymore. It's been three months already. It can't be…

However, his fear concertized. Right after the doctor finished replacing the medicines for new ones, a girl appeared standing near the door. No one heard a knock. No one heard a single footstep. It was hard to tell when she even got there. Shoulder length black hair, empty black eyes, wearing a black tank top and blue miniskirt, she stood there emotionlessly until she finally spoke with a shy voice. "Good afternoon."

Surprised, the doctor turned around and greeted her. "Oh- Good afternoon! As you can see, he has woken up already."

The girl tilted her head and stared at the boy, who avoided her eyes. Without noticing the atmosphere, the doctor decided to give them some space. "Well then, I don't want to get in the way of your reunion. I've added some painkillers to your medication, so you should feel a lot better from now on. If you need anything, just call me. I'll be staying until late night today." And like this, he left the two alone.

"Hishiro, are you okay?" The question might sound natural, but one would doubt any concern coming from her by the tone of her voice.

"... What do you think you're doing, Hinata?"

Yes, this girl was Hinata Sazuko, a level 0 that was originally a member of New Pointer just like Hishiro. She was one of the most lasting members and left the team just three months ago.

There were many mysteries surrounding this girl. In a group of people with exceptional and unique abilities, she was the only level 0. She was also "officially" the youngest member of the team. "Officially", because no one knew each other's real age or identities. According to the files, she is currently 12 years old, but she looked to be even younger than that.

The scary thing, however, was that her skills were not of a child. She was a master of assassination, being it by sneaking, facing her opponent head on or using indirect methods. Every time she went to combat, she would kill the enemy with a single and precise attack without breaking a sweat. That was the only thing that made her earn the respect (or fear) of the older members of the team. But one had to wonder where all that came from. She was extremely shy most of the time, going one hundred percent against her murderous actions, and under some circumstances she failed to express any emotion at all. Many among the team suspected that she was actually an experimental android developed inside some shady facility in the city. Even Hishiro believed that theory for quite some time, until he noticed that her body had grown a little, meaning that she could only be organic after all… probably.

Hinata kept glaring at the boy in the bed without flinching from his tone. "That's what I wanted to ask… what are you doing, Hishiro Yamazaki? It's not like you to get beaten so badly."

Having his defeat been pointed out to him so bluntly made him annoyed beyond the charts. "T-that's none of your business anymore, is it?! You're no longer one of us. Don't get involved with my job anymore, got it?"

For a moment, a very short moment, she seemed at a loss of words. But as if her brain had reseted in a split of second, her expression darkened and she retorted in a even lower tone. "... You are misunderstanding something. I haven't done anything for your sake. I just did what Mayu-nee-san told me to do. So you don't have to worry."

 _Dammit Asuka!_ He had a lot of trouble stopping himself from snapping (the pain was actually the only thing that held him in place). The worst part was that he would probably be dead if it wasn't for them, so for now, he had to swallow it all.

Without noticing his internal conflict, the girl continued. "Even so... I think you should quit, Hishiro. We aren't being forced into doing this anymore."

The suggestion got him off guard and made he raise an eyebrow. "Did Asuka asked you to tell me that?"

She denied shaking her head with her eyes closed. "This is my personal opinion. You can't continue doing this alone. It's not just dangerous-"

"I refuse to." He didn't let her finish.

"Why?"

"..."

"Is that the 'sense of justice' Kai was always talking about?"

"Don't you dare to compare me to that happy-go-lucky hypocrite!"

"Then are you just an idiot that likes to fight just satisfy your own ego?"

"Hell no!"

"Then why?" Hinata stared more intently. He couldn't avoid her gaze this time.

 _Shit, I'm falling right into her mind game... That's why I hate dealing with her!_ Thinking in a way to turn the situation to his advantage, he returned the question to her. "If you want to know that much, then tell me why YOU stuck up with us for so long. You could have left several months before, just like the rest did!"

"That is... I..." Her hard expression finally cracked. "... I can't say it."

"Then don't expect me to say it either."

"But your life is in danger-"

"Our freaking lives have always been in danger! From the very beginning! But it seems like I was the only one aware of it!"

"Y-yes, but... I-I mean, no! That's not my point!"

"I got it already, Hinata. But let me tell you something: I have always worked alone. Since way before we were recruited to POINTER, I already worked in the darkness and back then, people we thought to be allies could back stab us at any moment. I can handle myself just fine."

"Sure, I can see that very clearly right now how fine you're doing."

"S-Shut up! It's not like as if you, or Kai, or everyone else were there could have changed what happened!"

"You're hopeless... I feel bad for Mayu-nee-san to be stuck babysitting you."

 _That little... I wonder if they would be able to frame me for murder if I gave her a heart attack right now._ Though he was more afraid of her somehow surviving than to be arrested. That's just how much of a monster she was. _I have to calm down. She won't leave me alone if this keeps dragging on._

Breathing deeply, he got over his pride and said in a calmer tone. "Well... you did save my life, so you have my thanks."

Surprised by the sudden change, Hinata dropped her cold attitude and went back to the docile shy girl she seemed to be when she first entered the room. "... Don't mind it."

"Just… try to avoid getting involved in the darkness from now on. You finally got your freedom, after all." Several seconds passed and she gave no answer. It was hard to tell if it was a silence of approval or if she had no intention to do what he asked.

 **Part 2**

Before leaving, Hinata told him what she knew about the incident.

On the 21st, Asuka had contacted her and explained that he had got seriously hurt. Supposedly, the woman that attacked him plus another person called an ambulance for him. However, the vehicle was intercepted midway and men in suit had took his body away in a black car. Asuka kept them in sight using a drone, and after his body had gone through a lot of people, the final destination was the headquarters of LIZARD.

Hinata alone infiltrated the facility, killed the guard with poisonous gas, locked him inside the cell and took Hishiro away without anyone noticing. It was a hard task, but thanks to a small group that had invaded the base on the same day and kept the staff busy, her escape went smoothly and she managed to bring him safely to the closest hospital she could find.

After her story was over, she gave him back his communication device that she had found inside the base and then left. She probably wouldn't come to visit him again after what had happened.

But they wouldn't meet again even if she changed her mind.

The next day, Hishiro received a call. _Huh, figures. She won't leave me alone even under these circumstances._ He didn't actually wanted to talk to Asuka, but he had to. They both took a step away from the path determined by the higher ups and they had to plan what to do from now on. However...

"Hello. It's been a while." The voice belonged to a female, but not the one he was expecting. It was the other manager of New Pointer, one that would not contact the field team directly unless the situation was critical. Hishiro had a bad feeling about this.

"Is it Seria? It's rare for you to call me. Sometimes I think you died in the hands of the directors or something."

"Unrespectful as always, I see."

"Says the woman calling my cell phone in a hospital."

"Let's put that aside for now." She said in a serious tone. Unlike Asuka, she was the kind to go straight to the point. Hishiro was glad for that, at the very least.

"Let me guess: you want to get me punished for what I did three days ago, right?"

"I don't know what you did and it seems that you got your punishment already. I'm calling you to give you further instructions regarding the investigation."

 _She is really letting me out of the hook? Is she THAT desperate?_ He swallowed dry before confirming. "The Breakdown?"

"Things are getting out of hand..." There was the sound of several sheets of paper being scattered around. She was probably overloaded with work. Knowing her personality, she probably wanted to get this over with as fast as possible, which would explain why she was in a hurry. "Several factions are on the move right now. One of them officially claimed - and by that I mean that they sent a message to the board of directors and the most important researcher and administration facilities - that they will be opening the path to the Imaginary Number District today. They are basically announcing a Coup d'état."

"What the heck... that's dumb." No matter how you think about it, if you want to take the government by force, the most effective way to do it was to do it by surprise. Why would someone give the enemy the chance to be prepared for the attack beforehand? However, Seria didn't agree.

"Is it really? I find it to be a pretty clever move."

"How come?"

"They can't take over. There is no doubt about that. No one knows what can be found in that place, nor if it's even a place to begin with. Even though, they had the courage to challenge the Board of Directors, and even the Chairman himself, with such confidence. They couldn't possibly be betting on something so unknown, so their goal is obviously something else. Can you figure it out on your own?"

It made sense, up to some point. Seria was smart, even Hishiro knew that much. _But why would they do this false claim? What they had to gain with it?_ He didn't need to think about it too much to reach the answer. "The Breakdown itself... They can't take over the government, but if enough people believe they can, they'll panic instantly. And since the Imaginary Number District is a huge unknown like you said, those who matter cannot completely deny the possibility. Are they wanting to start a riot among the higher ups?"

"A riot or something worse. In the worse case scenario, the government would enter into a process of self destruction, but they know that we won't allow that to happen. In any case, they want us busy. And to make things even more complicated, the Level Upper project is getting to the final stage today. In summary, the city is going to be a mess and the Directors are going to be kept in check, thus we need you to act in their behalf."

"Well, it's their own fault for letting the Level Upper to escalate so much. I could have ended it in a day or two."

"The experiment being ran by professor Kyama Harumi is considered to be more important than the damage caused by its consequences. Besides, there are people keeping the damage under control, so all you have to worry about is the Breakdown."

"If you say so..." This were no news. He was used to leave alone the incidents that were "useful" for the higher ups. "Then, what do I have to do?"

"It's simple, actually. We located the leaders of the supposed rebellion inside a building in District 10. You'll barge in, eliminate everyone inside and capture their leader, Kihara Hideaki, alive if possible. Also, try not to damage any files or machinery you may find. Those are going to be inspected later. That's all."

"Wait, a Kihara?"

"That's what it says on the database, but he doesn't seems to be a researcher of any kind, so you can rest assured."

 _In other words, a genocide mission._ Hishiro smiled bitterly. There was no explanation on how they were found, no guarantee that they were the right people nor that unrelated people won't be there and it seems that it doesn't matter even if there are. The true point behind it all is to close the case by using this group as a scapegoat and inciting fear on other factions. "That's quite the thing to ask someone in a hospital bed. You guys are the best, really."

"..."

"Whatever. I'll get it done… somehow. Is Asuka going to assist me?"

"No. She is busy with another task right now, thus I'm the one instructing you. However, she sent something that might help you. It's inside a package hidden in a brush near the front entrance."

"And how am I supposed to get there? I can't exactly leave here, you know."

"Find a way. I did everything possible on my end. There will be a vehicle to pick you up in fifteen minutes. Be waiting on the street by then."

"Good grief… that's unreasonable as heck." But no one heard his complaint, Seria had already cut the call. "Well… now, how should I do this?" He skillfully removed the needle injecting the medicine on his arm and stood up - just to regret doing it. The pain made it obvious that he wasn't totally healed yet. "Ugh- I guess I'll need to get back here once this is over..."

He couldn't just walk away as if nothing had happened. If a nurse or an doctor saw him on the hallways heading to the exit, they would stop him without a doubt. After all, all he was wearing were the patients attire, and since his normal clothes were probably destroyed after what had happened. Also, there weren't any outfits in this room he could use to leave without standing out. So this left the window as his only option. "Though this is the second floor… dammit, talk about bad luck." Looking down from there reminded him about the jump he had made a few days ago. His ability wasn't enough to break the fall back then, and it would probably be less effective now. Then, a tree nearby caught his attention. It wasn't too far away from the building and if he managed to jump there, he could climb down easily.

He made up his mind and opened the window wide, took a few steps back and when he was about to dash forward-

"Are you going somewhere?"

"!"

There was a girl leaning on the door with crossed arms. Shoulder length brown hair and Tokiwadai uniform, Hishiro immediately recognized her. "G-geez, you surprised me! Why didn't you knocked?"

"I did. Twice." Misaka stared at him with cold eyes. Her menacing tone was completely different from when he first met her.

"Is that so? I didn't hear at all."

"Yeah, you seem to be pretty busy here."

"N-not at all..." His vague answer brought a few sparks to her bangs. For the sake of keeping his calm, he told himself he was just seeing things. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

She almost didn't let him finish. "Just who are you?"

"... what do you mean?"

"When we met the other day, you told me to keep an eye on Saten-san… my friend that left early. You knew what was going to happen, didn't you?"

"Oh… that..." Hishiro recalled the scene. She was probably be referring to the girl he suspected to be in possession of the Level Upper. "By what you're saying, I assume that she..."

"Yes… she fell victim of the Level Upper." Misaka averted her eyes for a moment, just to stare back at him more coldly than before. "How did you know that she was going to use it? Just how deep are you involved with this?"

"It was just a guess. There was no way I could be sure." The boy couldn't help but grin, which made the level 5 even more irritated. "And if you believe I have something to do with that half assed cheat code, then drop it. I couldn't get near this whole incident even if I wanted to."

"Care to tell me why?"

"Nope, can't say it."

Mikoto narrowed her eyes and her tone grew more aggressive. "Then what? Do you want me to believe that you're just a normal civilian even after _getting sliced all over, being captured by an unknown group, escaping on your own and recovering in two days_?" Hishiro's eyebrows twitched even so slightly. He had to close his eyes and keep his grin to avoid letting her notice. "Yeah, I know everything about it. I had to rip this out of Kuroko after she searched for you all over the city. That idiot and Uiharu-san were worried sick about you!"

"Heh, that's surprising. I would feel flattered if I didn't knew they were from Judgement." She was really just millimeter away from losing control and punching him which just amused him further. "You go and tell them to not to do this anymore. Everything I do is always under my control, no matter how bad it looks. And one more thing-" Now the one staring coldly was Hishiro. "If you think that anyone in this city is actually normal, you're nothing but naive. Keep that in mind."

She was about to say something, but he continued. "By the way, you should hurry. If you want to find the truth about the Level Upper, today might be your last chance. Who knows what will happen to your friend if you fail again."

The girl clicked her tongue and gave up. Just like Kuroko had said, he was impossible to speak with when he was under pressure. "This isn't over yet." And with that, she left the room.

…

Hishiro let out a heavy sigh. _What the hell was that? There are way too many females sticking their noses into my business lately. If I at least could take advantage of that… it feels like I became a protagonist of a shounen manga or something._

This time, he was able to jump out without interruptions. He nearly missed the tree branch , but managed to grab it with his right hand and climb down as planned. Then he headed to the front entrance and searched for the package while being careful to not be spotted. It didn't take long to find it. He took it to close the tree that he used to escape, which was a blind spot for both the guards, the cameras and the pedestrians, and opened it.

"... Haha, now that's more like it!"

The first thing he found inside was a small pink card with a handwritten message:

"Get better soon~!"

Underneath it, there was a share of clothes (namely a black jeans, shoes, a white shirt and a dark blue jacket with a hood - which looked like the gray one he used all the time), a small revolver, countless rounds, a few grenades and other kinds of bombs... but the most precious item was…

"The AMCP-55. She actually got me a new one. It's going to be hard to hate her after that."

The AMCP - short version of Anti Material Combat Pistol - was a large handgun with cannon like fire power. It fires unique 55 millimeter caliber rounds which used a special explosive chemical that was more efficient than gunpowder to make the capsules smaller. In return, it made the recoil hazardous for the user, which was the reason the prototype was considered a failure, but this wasn't a problem for Hishiro, as he could reduce the side effects drastically with his Null Inertia. Since it was a never released model, it was nearly impossible to get hands on one. And unlike the previous gun he used that was destroyed by Mugino, this was a recently fabricated model instead of an old test prototype. How did Asuka managed to get it was a mystery.

Taking a last look around to see if there was anyone nearby or looking through the windows on the above floors, he changed into his new clothes on the spot and packed his new equipment into his many pockets. "That's it, I'm back baby!"

 **Part 3**

It was a one sided massacre. The dozens of boys and girls, men and women, high level and low level espers were all being overpowered by a single person. The lone warrior was playing dirty though. He sealed off all exits, cut off the power and water supply, armed landmines on every possible landing spot if someone tried to jump off a window, used his enemies as human shields, tricked them into attacking each other in the dark and, as long as it didn't disturbed his way up inside the building, he had no mercy into collapsing the ceiling over the heads of anyone that got in his way using explosives. _Seems like I got influenced by that Frenda girl. She had some loose screws but I have to admit, her methods can come in handy in situations like this._

However, the boy wasn't completely unharmed. He got hit by a few esper abilities, not to mention that the continuous use of his canon pistol could injure his arm bones. Luckily for him, the building wasn't that high. It had only eight floors, and he was already on the sixth. Going by the cliche, he expected his target to be on the last room of the last floor, so he was almost done here. That is, unless he had killed himself trying to run away or was hiding somewhere. That would make things a bit more complicated without Asuka's help.

Hishiro was getting closer to the stairs to the next floor when several footsteps came from above, followed by two fireballs that missed him by far in the darkness. One of them dissipated, but the other had hit a wooden table that got fire, illuminating the room. The attackers were three people holding improvised riot shields on the front and two identical empty handed girls behind them, which he assumed to be the Espers responsible for the fire just now. Having lost his reliable cover - the darkness, he was an easy target when faced by five people. "There he is! No holding back now! Shot as if your life depended on it!"

 _What a pain…_ The fireballs came flying once again, but this time Hishiro swung his arm and they stopped in midair with a weird visual effect and dissipated on the spot. Surprised, the group was a second too slow to react. When the woman in the front reached for the gun on her belt, Hishiro was already shooting right through their defenses, digging holes in all of them… no, it only worked on two. _What a great time to run out of ammo… fucking math._ His revolver still had bullets, but it wasn't going to pierce through the shield. With no time to reload and not enough distance to use a grenade, his only option was to charge forward. His not yet recovered body screamed in pain from the sudden action, but he kept going anyway. No doubt those fireballs would hurt way more than that.

The last standing man in the frontline swung his shield horizontally when Hishiro was one step away from him and grasped his side, sending him slightly off balance. But it wasn't enough to stop the coming attack. Hishiro high kicked the man on the neck, making an unpleasant crackling sound and knocking him unconscious. The twin Espers did not waste time. One of them shot another fireball while the other covered her fist in flames and sent a punch for his face. He quickly picked up the shield the man was using just a moment ago to defend himself against the fire. The long ranged attack was blocked, but the burning fist crushed the shield and struck him in the forehead. "UGH! AHH!"

 _D-dammit! They look the same, but one is clearly more powerful than the other!_ At the very least, only embers remained when he got hit, but the heat and strength of the impact were not that light. He quickly got up and and found the two running at him. Both were really identical, he couldn't tell who had punched him. _Who is the strongest? C'mon, c'mon, show yourself!_ When they were just three meters away from him, the girl on the right ignited her fist.

"So it's you!" He ducked down and tackled her, but did not allow her to fall. He circulated round her and grabbed her from behind, all the while making the other one trip down with his Null Inertia. She was intending to fight back, but then she felt the barrel of a revolver on her back. With teary eyes, she looked at the other one on the floor and forced out the words. "Onee-chan! I lo-"

 _Bang!_

"Sorry, no last words allowed. I'm in a hurry here."

"No... NOOO! YUKOOOO! PLE-"

 _Bang!_

And so the two girls were lying limp on the floor. Hishiro had not aimed at anything in particular, but the shock of being shot on the torso made them both lose consciousness and that was enough. They were not going to survive anyway, the fire from earlier was spreading fast. "Tsk. Don't they teach those pyrokinesist to not use their powers indoors?" He could try to stop the fire with his own power, but he wasn't sure if it was going to work on the flames of this size, so he prefered to rush and finish before it became a problem for himself as well.

Since he was close to his objective, he saved no resources and used countless grenades as he made his way to clean the seventh floor in five or so minutes. The eighth, for his surprise was empty - save for one room. It was a wide hall with no pillars and, unlike the other rooms in the building, the windows went from the floor to the ceiling and from one wall to the other without obstruction. There weren't many high buildings nearby, so it was a nice and wide view to the outside.

Looking through the majestic window, one person stood in the middle of the hall. He was rather tall, had light brown hair and a short beard. From behind, his expensive looking suit made him look old, but once he turned to look at Hishiro, he didn't seem to be much older than him.

"So you finally arrived. Welcome to my office, murderer."

"I assume you're the one they call Kihara Hideaki." Spoke Hishiro, ignoring the man's taunt.

"Yes, That is me. This name, however, holds no meaning anymore."

"Because I killed everyone that followed you for solely for this name? Or is it because you were never a Kihara to begin with?"

"... I'd say both, perhaps." Admitted the man in a self loathing tone. "How did you found out it was a farce?"

"If my enemy was a true Kihara, I wouldn't be able to go this far so easily."

"Ha… ahahaha, that may be true."

"Besides, when I called you just now… your reaction wasn't of someone being directly spoken to." Hishiro had lived with many people using fake names since his childhood, and one thing they all had in common was that they held no attachment for those names, and they had a slight delay to react when they heard it. That, of course, included himself.

Hideaki dropped the subject and asked. "So… what comes now? Are you going to kill me?"

"It would be easier for me to do so, but they told me to take you alive for some reason. They might still have some use for you, so let's get going. There is a nasty fire downstairs, so if you resist, you might lose your last chance of survival."

"Hmm... so Yuna and Yuko managed to do it." The man closed his eyes sadly and sighed in relief. "I'm glad that their deaths weren't in vain."

 _Yuko… that was the name of one of the twins earlier, right?_ While Hishiro wondered about that, the man opened his eyes again. There was a clear sign of determination on his face.

"Sorry, but I'll be dying today, and it'll be right here, inside of this office."

"... Say what?" Hishiro was expecting some resistance, but not... this.

"And, for the sake of everyone that lost their lives here today, I'll make sure to take you with me."

"What, do you intend to keep me here until the fire spreads and blocks our way out? Sorry, but that ain't happening-"

"The two sisters were there for a reason." The man cut in. "In case of emergency, we prepared a quick way to get rid of all evidence and evacuate. The trigger for that lies on the sixth floor."

"Wait… you don't mean..."

"This building will implode soon enough, and neither of us can escape. The door you just came through uses a mechanical lock and can only be opened with a password that not even I know of."

"What?"

"I asked someone to reset it and leave it unlocked… until you came in and closed it yourself. You probably killed the only person that knew it."

At this point, the boy was growing impatient. Even if it was a bluff, it was a bluff that he couldn't ignore. "Are you insane? Throwing your life away like this-"

"I die for all of those you killed… no, for all of those who died ever since Gensei purposefully leaked those documents."

As if waiting for this moment, a monstrous cry roared through the district. Hishiro and Hideaki looked through the window and, far in the distance there was - something. Something huge. It appeared to be a monster with several tentacles growing from its back and a halo over its head.

For a moment, Hishiro forgot about the situation he was in. "What… the heck is that?"

"So it has begun… it should be safe to do it now." When he said that, he took out a small music player and plugged the earphones.

"The Level Upper?!"

"Yes. That thing out there was born from the network formed by the Level Upper. It is composed by the mass concentration of AIM Diffusion Fields emitted by the Espers that have reached the terminal stage."

"You mean… the ones who fell into comatose?"

"Exactly. Their bodies are probably under extreme pressure right now. But for me, someone that is just getting into the network, there shouldn't be any side effects for at least a few hours." Hideaki grinned widely. It was already too late to stop him. "Now… I wonder what happens when a Level 4 like me gets a forced power up using this masterpiece!"

 _Then... will he reach the power of a Level 5?_ Hishiro gritted his teeth and braced himself. He had to defeat this person, and he had to do it quick. The building would crumble to the ground anytime.

 **Between the Lines**

The creature had appeared at the southwest part of District 10, nearby the experimental Nuclear Power Plant. It was difficult for it to not pick the attention of the important figures that were currently living in the city.

For example, the famous electromaster girl was fighting it with all her strength to avoid a disaster.

…

For example, a silver haired nun watched it all on the television inside the house of a certain teacher, thinking that it was some kind of movie.

…

For example, inside a windowless building, a man floating upside down inside a large glass tube stared at several windows displaying images of the event and many charts and numbers while looking satisfied with the results.

…

For example, a certain saint holding a two meter long Japanese sword watched everything from the top of a wind turbine while talking in the phone.

"Styil, can you hear me? It's me, Kanzaki."

"Did you found out what is going on?"

"Yes… looks like some crazy experiment got out of control. There is a huge monster on a rampage here, but their people are taking care of it. It won't get in the way of our plan."

"Seriously? I can't get the science side at all…"

"But this is strange… this thing… it almost looks like a..."

"Hm? Is there something wrong?"

"... no, never mind. I'm heading back right away." She pocketed her phone and prepared to return, but it was hard to shake the feeling she just had. _No, it can't be. People from the science side can't to do this. They lack the knowledge to do so. They should lack..._

…

For example, a white haired esper caught a glimpse at the whole thing while going home after finishing a certain experiment.

"Heh, none of my business..."

…

For example, an esper girl capable of detecting AIM Diffusion Fields stared blankly towards the direction where everything was happening, worrying her blond friend.

"Are you alright, Takitsubo?"

"I can see it… it's all blurry… I didn't even used that thing, but I can still see it..."

"What? What are you talking about? What are you seeing?"

"I don't know… just what in the world is this? I've never seen anything like this before."

...

And the grey robed man watched it all through the complex magic circle drawn on the ground covered with green flames while eating an apple.

"Wonderful… It is wonderful indeed. I never even dreamt that the day would come… the day a single man would give its first step towards the creation of the System. It is a shame I cannot personally congratulate you for this accomplishment, Crowley. Even so… you have my gratitude. This was not enough to open the gate, but you just taught me how to do so and every major player or piece in the board has their eyes focused on this single event. I could not ask for a better chance."

* * *

 **Yet again, another supposed to be short chapter grew out of hand, forcing me to split it into two. I guess I understand how Kamachi managed to write more than 40 books! Once you start writing something about this series, it's really hard to stop!**

 **Hishiro is back from the ashes, and got thrown right into the core of the whole incident without time to rest! It's actually funny because I always feels bad for Touma, not having a damn break nowadays and here I am, doing the exactly same thing to my OC… What a time for my sadist side to appear (lol).**

 **Now he have to face Hideaki, a Level 4 esper using the level upper. This is something I always wondered about: what would happen to a high level esper boosting their ability even further with it? Could the 8th level 5 be born this way, even if temporarily? The answer I came up with will appear on the next chapter.**

 **And there is also Hinata, an old member of Pointer. If you look back, she was mentioned in the end of chapter 5 alongside with the others. After giving it deep thought, I decided it was okay to bring them back, even if just as support characters. And come to think of it, she is the first level 0 to show up in this fic (that is, depending on Frenda's and Seria's level… this haven't been revealed as far as I know) It would be nice to give her a chance to show her battle skills later on.**

 **Regarding the topic raised in the reviews… I can't say much about that without spoiling the plot, but I hope that what I have planned for the future will surprise you all. And there is no rule saying that Hishiro will never meet Touma. In fact, Touma has his role here as well. He just can't appear yet because… well, he is currently busy dealing with Index. But don't worry, whenever he has some free time, he will show up and** _ **maybe**_ **will cross paths with our hero (oh crap, less rest for you Touma. I'm really sorry… XD)**

 **As always, thanks for the guests helping out with proofreading (I swear that the day you won't find any typos in a chapter will come!) Please leave your thoughts on the reviews! See you guys next time!**

 **EDIT: (WARNING for possible minor spoilers about NT ahead) I somehow forgot to comment on the Kakeru idea. Yes, I'm following NT up close and I know about him (also, I'm among the minority that don't hate the poor guy). The idea is interesting and could lead to a really cool twist during the ending I'm planning, but I think that there is a huge difference in the core of Hishiro's and Kakeru's way of thinking. They aren't opposite's like Touma but Hishiro isn't the kind of guy that go saving people around. He has a reason for doing what he does, and he could ignore pleas of help for that very same reason (I'm going to elaborate more on that later on the story). But it's kind of a shame because I liked the idea. I'm thinking about writing a second fic (if my free times allows it, of course, I don't want this one to be left behind), so if it happens, I might use this as one of the themes. Thanks for your review!**


	10. Case Closed

**II**

 **Chapter 10: The Finishing Line is the First Step  
**

 **Case_Closed**

 **Part 1**

Hishiro nervously faced the man in front of him. He did not know his ability. He did not know what his level was now that the man had used the Level Upper. He did not know how much time there was left before the whole building crumbled to the ground.

Hideaki seemed pleased by the uneasiness of his enemy. "What's wrong? Is the murderer really freezing in fear when in front of death? Pathetic..."

"Shut the fuck up. A suicidal maniac has no right to say nothing about me."

"Oh… did I make you angry?" Hishiro clicked his tongue in annoyance. It was true that the comment pissed him off, Mugino had told the same to him a few days ago, but the truth is that he did not know how to approach his enemy. "If you won't do the first move… then allow me to do so." After announcing that, Hideaki took out several black stones from inside his suit. At first glance, it seemed to be some kind of coal, but it had an unique metallic feel to it. He then threw two of them high in the air. Hishiro braced himself, ready to stop them if anything happened - but it didn't. When he noticed that it was a feint, Hideaki was already close enough to hit him.

In a desperate attempt to get distance, he tried to run to the left which had more space if he needed to dodge, but as soon as he did, he felt a sharp pain on his cheek. _Ugh - What? Did I just… got cut? How?!_ Wiping the blood, he took a quick glance on the two stones that were already on the floor. There was nothing special about them… but the others that Hideaki was holding were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was something else on his hand. It had the shape of a long dagger and had the same color as those stones. "Don't tell me… your ability is..."

"Figured it out already?" Swinging the weapon forward, the two stones lying on the floor shapeshifted and attached themselves to the tip of the blade, turning it into a long and flexible whip that swung into the boy's direction.

Hishiro saw it coming and used more adequate movements to dodge the attack, but against his expectations, the black hope ignored the laws of physics and pursued him, striking the center of his chest. "Gwaaah!" His body was sent flying and hit the window behind. Luckily the glass didn't shattered, but the impact made him cough out a worrisome amount of blood.

Hideaki lowered his hand and the whip turned back into the several black stones from before. "AHAHAHAHAHA! The Level Upper is surely amazing! It would usually take way more time to manipulate this much mass to the molecular level." He toyed with the stones, turning them into several different things from each other at irregular intervals, amused by the results. "At this point, I may even be able to manipulate it to the atomic level! I can hardly blame those poor children for falling victim of this temptation!"

Still testing his powers, the man gathered a few of the stones to the center of his palms and smashed them together. When he opened his hands, three spikes made of yellowish transparent crystals were sent flying towards Hishiro, who was forced to roll on the floor to avoid the deadly attack.

 _That just now… did he really transformed matter by manipulating molecules?!_ The idea sounded ridiculous, but given the circumstances it wasn't impossible. Did this man really reached the power of a level 5? In any case, Hishiro now had an idea of his opponent's attack options and was ready to counter attack.

The cries of the creature outside served as a signal for him to close in. Hideaki tried to intercept his approach using the whip once again, but Hishiro managed to get past it unharmed by moving in an unpredictable way. Instead of running in a straight line and dodging, he turned to the left and used the wooden table as a platform to jump over the black rope.

Hideaki ducked down to avoid the incoming flying kick, but that was a feint. Once Hishiro landed behind Hideaki, he spun 180 degrees aiming a low kick at his legs, sending the man head on to the floor.

He shot with his revolver twice, but the black mass moved and formed a wall to shield the older male. Before he could aim his cannon pistol to shoot through the cover, countless black spikes grew from the wall towards him, forcing him to step back.

Hideaki took the chance to stand up and tried to slash Hishiro's neck with the new formed knife on his hand. The boy ducked in time to dodge, but Hideaki followed up with a knee into his face that sent him crashing to the wall.

Hishiro didn't had time to recover as the whip came at him once again. This time he swung his arm horizontally and stopped the deadly snakelike object halfway through. He shot three more times, but Hideaki still had one of the black stones with him and managed to protect himself with them. Hishiro's irritation was shown all over his face, while Hideaki kept mocking him. "Your ability is really interesting. But there isn't much you can do against me using it."

Hishiro clicked his tongue and took out his cannon pistol. He could try to shoot on the blind spots of the improvised shield protecting his enemy, but he desired to overpower him in some way, so he aimed for the black barrier. The bullets from this weapon should be enough to pierce through the obstacle no matter how resistant it was. But that proved to be a mistake in many ways. First, the projectile hit the black wall sending sparks all over the place with a extremely loud noise, but got deflected and struck the wall behind Hishiro, missing him for a few dozens of centimeters. "What the f- WHOA!"

Second, the black whip that was supposed to be immobilized by Null Inertia was moving again. It wrapped itself around Hishiro's right ankle and sent him flying one more time.

 _Dammit... the moment I used my ability to reduce the recoil, the other field disappeared and I didn't even noticed. I can't even keep two fields active at the same time anymore. Just great._ He struggled to get up and focused his attention on the black stones. How in the world was it able to withstand a shot from the AMCP? Just what was that thing anyway? There was no time to think, two whips were coming for him in a pincer shaped attack. Hishiro jumped back to dodge it, but the whips collided with each other sending several fragments flying all around. Some managed to reach him, worsening the pain of his previous wounds.

 _Screw the mission. I'm gonna kill this guy and get the heck out of here somehow!_ He made the basic calculations to stop the man's heart and was ready to do it when Hideaki started talking once again.

"Looks like you decided to kill me instead of taking me to your superiors. Very well... you're free to do so, but let me warn you: even if you kill me, there is no way to escape this room. And also..." He then pointed to the monster going berserk outside. "... you'll never know the truth about that thing."

The last statement made Hishiro hesitate. "What are you talking about? What do you know?"

"Everything." Hishiro clicked his tongue. The way the older male was being vague made it obvious that he was only trying to buy time. "The Level Upper... isn't a tool for increasing an Esper's level. That's nothing but a side effect. Its real purpose is to synchronize the brainwaves of all its users in order to create the massive biological network that I mentioned earlier."

"I got it already, but why would someone want that?"

"Oh, there are many benefits. These networks had already been in use for a while, but no one never put its full possible uses in test like Gensei and Harumi are doing right now. If you want some concrete examples… two of them are enough. First, it's the possibility of the creation of the ultimate esper."

"You mean… a Level 6?!"

"Yes. Increasing the calculation ability of an individual by connecting them to a network made of several brains at their disposal will lead to an intensive increase in power… you are already witnessing it first hand. This, however, is nothing but an illusion of power. If I disconnect from the network right now, I'll turn back to normal as if nothing happened."

A sad and evil grin appeared on Hideaki's face before he continued. "Part of the limit of our esper skills is because the brain structure. Some have one side more easily developed than others, but none is perfect. But, with all this calculation ability… all this data available on several brains… what if someone tried to analyze it all and use them as blueprints to create one unique and perfect brain?"

"You're suggesting that we copy the good parts of other espers brains into ours to improve our own ability? That's just ridiculous! I've seen what happens to people that have other's personal realities forced into them and not only the chances of success are slim, but the side effects are unavoidable. Do you really believe something on that level is possible?"

"Me? No. But the scientists… as long as they believes it is, these experiments will continue, no matter how many sacrifices are made."

 _Just what's up with this guy? I can't grasp his motives at all from what he's saying!_

Hideaki pointed to the window once again. "And the other benefit… is standing right there. That horrendous thing is the treasure everyone's been seeking all this time: the key to the imaginary number district."

Hishiro's eyes opened wide, he couldn't believe what he just heard. Hideaki found his reaction amusing and continued. "Funny, right? If everyone knew that this is what they were after, more than half would probably give up."

"This can't be… what in the world is the Imaginary Number District anyway? I don't understand… how that thing works as a key?"

"Not even I know the details. All I learned is that it the key is not supposed to allow people inside it. Instead, it's to _release what's inside the Five Elements institute._ " It was too much for his mind to process at once. Specially because his unit was supposed to stop experiments that were harmful to the peace of the city. This thing definitely fell into that category, and yet he and Asuka were kicked out of the Level Upper case. If that was the single weird thing going on... but there was the British girl and her pursuers as well. Just what was happening in this city?

"If you're trying to find any logic in all that, you better give up. It will only twist your mind." Warned Hideaki. "Kihara Gensei isn't a sane man. Probably no Kihara is, but he is on a whole other level. I have been working to avoid things to come this far, but it was all in vain. I failed to stop the rumors. I failed to obtain the device containing the restricted information. I failed to recover the case with files that could put the higher ups in check and delay their progress. And in turn, they found us and now our fate is settled. All I can do now is kill their lapdog and hope they get the message. That the people of this city won't sit around and let them do whatever they want with us!"

Hishiro didn't answered right away. He was completely silent with his head lowered. After several seconds, his shoulder started to shake, followed by a low sound. It was the sound… of a laugh. "You're funny. You talk so highly of yourself and your group as if you're the good guys, but your words are just as empty as of a politician."

"What?"

"After all, you only made things worse."

"How can you say that?"

"How exactly were you trying to stop the rumors? Just so you know, spreading around that it is fake only helps to make even more people to know about it. No one will believe on the spot that it's fake, just like no one will believe that the rumor is true when they first hear of it. All that just makes people curious and interested."

The expression on the face of the older male hinted that he had hit the head of the nail. He continued without leaving enough time for the man to answer. "That device… we were working securing it to minimize the damage that was already spreading. The more people were after it, the harder it was to avoid letting it fall in the wrong hands. And even if I have no idea what's that case you mentioned is, I bet that you just got in the way too."

Hideaki finally lost his temper and yelled. "You're saying that the ones in charge were trying to stop it too? Ridiculous! I don't have to believe a slave like you! Your actions didn't helped either! All you did was dye everything that crossed your path in blood!"

"Yeah… maybe that's true. But unlike you, I'm aware of what I did and what were the consequences. And honestly, I wouldn't have done differently even if I was given the chance. I may be among the villains, but the only hypocrite here is you."

Hishiro grabbed the fragments of the black stones lying around and threw them at Hideaki. The attack was to serve just as a distraction, but something unexpected happened.

Hideaki changed the direction of the stones in mid air, merging them with the ones he was already holding, but _something actually hit his face_ , surprising both of them. The object in question wasn't a black stone. It was transparent and shaped like a spike. Namely, one of the crystals he had used to attack Hishiro earlier. _He made it himself, how come he couldn't merge it back like he did with the rest? Was it just a mistake? Before that, why did he left it behind this whole time while he made sure to get back all the materials he used to attack? Wait, more importantly… why he didn't used these crystals again in the first place? One hit from that thing would take me out unlike his other attack methods._

While he wondered about that, Hideaki formed the dagger on his hand once again and charged at him at full speed. _I see… so that's how it is…_

Hishiro didn't dodge. Instead, he ran forward, ready to take the incoming slash head on. Hideaki went for a stab on the stomach, moving the dagger forward with all his strength, but the blade never reached its target.

"What? Are you crazy? What are you doing?"

"Just like I suspected… He he, I understand your trick now!"

Hishiro had reached out and grabbed the blade with his bare hands before the tip could pierce him. Blood dripped down from his fingers, but the wound wasn't as painful as one would suspect. In fact, the cut was surprisingly shallow. "Maybe this thing could kill me with the tip, but the edges aren't that sharp. Actually, this whole thing is kinda soft. It feels like I could bend it if I grasped hard enough."

The older male shook Hishiro's hand off the weapon and stepped back. Besides the red of the blood, the hand was also slightly black. "This thing… is graphite, isn't it?"

"Grrr!"

"No, that's not right. It was originally graphite, but when you change its shape, the alloy becomes weaker and less resistant. That's why you always change it back to its original form, am I right?"

Hideaki was getting more nervous by the second. "But that's not a problem for you, because no external force can interfere while the molecules are being manipulated . That's how you was able to stop my bullets, and why you could hit me with the whip without breaking it. In comparison to these two, using that weak dagger is really stupid. Since you manipulate it only to change the shape and stops once it's done. You should keep your power active to make it effective, you know?"

"I… I can't move while I use it… so it's impossible."

"Figured as much." Hishiro answered in a mocking way. "Your power is actually pretty weak for a Level 4. I guess the scientists got over excited to see someone manipulating molecules and toying with elements to classify you so high. I wonder if they were expecting you to get close to the #2 at some point? But you can't even control the molecules anymore if you change the structures too much. That's why you didn't keep making those quartz crystals. Your ability is limited to certain carbon based materials, even with the help of the level upper! HA! Level 5 my ass, you're nothing but a joke!"

Out of rage, Hideaki started to shapeshift all the stones at once. But before they could turn into anything, the area around them became distorted. "Though your toy can't be messed with while the molecules are under your control, I wonder what happens if it becomes impossible for the molecules to move at all?"

"No..." The older male panicked as his reliable toll became dust and sprayed on the floor. He tried to gather it all back but it was useless. The structure was changed beyond the range he could use.

Hishiro displayed a sick grin and cracked his knuckles as he approached his defenseless victim. "Well then… What should I do with you?" Hideaki didn't show any fear though, and started to chuckle, making Hishiro confused. "What, did you lost your mind in the face of despair?"

"You are the one being an hypocrite now. Or did you forget that you will die even if you defeat me? You won't be able to break the walls or the doors no matter what you use! The result of this battle does not matters, I am the victorious one!"

Hishiro gritted his teeth at that. He still had not thought in a way to escape the room, let alone exiting the building. And the clock was ticking against him. _No, I'm not going to die here! I can't die until I find what I am searching for!_

At that moment... something fell down the ventilation duct, breaking trough the grid cover "You're sure about that?"

"?"

"!"

The voice came from the spherical white object that had just appeared and resembled both a microphone and a speaker. Hishiro recognized both the tone of the voice and the object in question. "... Asuka!? Is that You?!"

"Yup Yup, sorry for the wait! Asuka Mayu on the rescue! By the way Shiro, you better cover your ears pretty fast."

"?!" He didn't think twice before covering his ears and he was glad he did. In a second, a terribly loud and high pitched sound came from the weird communicator, knocking Hideaki unconscious and shattering the glass of the majestic window almost instantly. Hishiro got dizzy even though he followed her instructions. "What the heck!"

"Sorry sorry, I may have overdone it a bit. Anyway, your carriage is waiting for you, so pick me and that man up and get ready to jump! This thing will blow up any second now~*!"

Another shiver ran through his body as an helicopter descended and stopped as close as possible to the window. He quickly pocketed the white ball, picked Hideaki (with some difficult) and jumped out, almost missing the door of the vehicle. "Well, that didn't go as I expected, but I guess it was satisfying. Anyway Asuka, what took you so long?"

"Sorry for that. I was too busy dealing with something else."

"With what?"

"That's a secret~*! If you want to blame someone, blame Seria for giving me the most troublesome job. Actually, it was pretty hard to convince those stubborn people to come get you. Helicopters aren't cheap after all. And you were lucky that the pilot managed to throw 'me' perfectly inside the exhaust, otherwise we would have to assault the window with bullets until it fell apart." Hearing that, the pilot wearing sunglasses sent a thumbs up with a smile at Hishiro. He could only smile wryly in return.

 **Part 2**

July 24, 5:10 pm

Hishiro was back to his room in the hospital on District 7. He wasn't sure if anyone noticed his absence. The frog faced doctor took care of his new wounds as if they were the old ones that reopened, but the look on his face was full of pity. As the level upper users started to wake up, no one came to check on him anymore for hours, giving just the opening he needed to settle the last remaining thing.

"Wha-what are you saying Shiro?! I did so much for you and you treat me like this! Aunt Asuka is going to cryyyy!"

"AS. IF! I can hear you laughing loud and clear from here! What the heck were you thinking when you sent Hinata after me?! HINATA OUT OF ALL PEOPLE?!"

"O-okay okay, I got it, sorry! No need to shout! I won't do this anymore! Next time I'll make sure to call Kai..."

"DON'T YOU DARE! If you even think of doing this, I swear I'll kill you even if I have to burn this whole city to the ground!"

Asuka stop pretending and laughed even harder at his reaction, pissing him off even further. "Damn Shiro, you're so mean. Hina-chan was really, reaaaaaally happy to see you again! Maybe this kind of attitude is what keeps you from getting a girlfriend, you know?"

"Tha-that has nothing to do with this!"

"I wonder about that~~*" She started laughing once again, making Hishiro growl loudly. "Well, if you don't like my methods of saving you, all you have to do is to avoid needing to be saved, isn't that right?"

"You know what, Asuka? Sometimes I think I would prefer to face all 7 level fives at once instead of hearing your crap."

"Oh my, that's a difficult request. It's hard for me to get in touch with the numbers 1 and 6, but I may be able to arrange a date with the number four-"

"Just forget I said anything." He let out a heavy sigh and gave up. After all, she was right about one thing: this whole situation was his own fault to begin with. He was the one that nearly got killed. Asuka saved his life twice, and looks like she just got her payment from him against his will. Even though he was irritated at all that, he felt at ease for some reason. "Anyway, I have to tell you what I heard from fake Kihara said."

"If you're talking about the Level Upper and the Breakdown, I already know everything." Hishiro didn't even bothered to ask how. He hadn't talked to her for a few days, and he was sure she wasn't just waiting for him in the meantime. "They really used us as puppets this time, making us cut only the threads they wanted and without telling us a single thing until it was over. A lack of professionalism if you ask me. It's not like we would betray them or anything if they explained it from the start."

"Except it isn't over yet."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"First of all, Seria was either wrong or lying to me today. That man and his group's objectives had nothing to do with the Breakdown or taking the city. All they wanted to do was to stop the experiment from happening, and the higher ups saw them as a menace."

"..."

"Also, something else got involved in this whole incident that we have yet to understand."

"You're talking about the nun and the sword woman?"

Hishiro kept silent, but Asuka understood that it was it. Indeed, it all begun while they were trying to stop the Breakdown from getting even worse, but it turned out to be a fake alarm that led them into another incident. And then the invasion and the mission. Hishiro was sure it was all connected somehow.

"But what are we going to do about that, Shiro? If Seira did lie to you, we can't trust her on that, even if she is our only link with the directors. We can't confront those people either, since that woman showed to be beyond your league. We don't even know if the nun is still alive… and there is the Grim Reaper's warning, we can't ignore that either."

He hated to admit it but she was right, they were out of options. But it wasn't something they could ignore either. One of the directors tricked them once, and the next time it happened could be the last for them. They both thought on the matter as the sky slowly became darker, but they found no answer in the end.

 **Between the Lines**

8:00 pm

The man in gray robe simply walked past the gate guards naturally without being seen. No, it's not like he sneaked his way through, or used some trick to be temporarily invisible. It's just that the guards felt that it was just normal for him to do so, even though it wasn't.

Just to be clear, the gates in question were the east gates of Academy City. Under normal circumstances, no one should be able to cross them without going through the procedures, but no one paid any heed to the man leaving the city like someone leaving an amusement park.

After getting far enough from the guards, the man grabbed a cellphone and called the first registered number. It took thirty seconds for someone to pick up. "I've been waiting for you to get in contact, Rázval."

"... Myrin, is that you? Oh my, oh my, it's been a long time! I was expecting your sister to answer the phone instead of you."

"She is travelling right now. I think she went to Portugal this time. Haven't you heard of it?"

"Oh, that is true. She told me that she wanted to visit Lisboa. It completely slipped my mind."

"Anyway… why are you calling instead of using a more safe method?"

"Are you referring to the communication spell? If I used magic, Crowley would notice the disturbance instantly. Just as they say, when in Rome, do like the Romans do."

"I'll take your word on that..." The male named Myrin didn't sound satisfied with the answer, but he didn't press any further. "So, what are the results?"

"Beyond our expectations. I planted 162 seeds of doubt across Academy City, and about five nurtured fruits. One in particular has high chances to get involved with the Imagine Breaker."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he personally met the Grimoire Library sent by the Anglican Church."

"Hmm…" Myrin made a long pause. It was a habit of his to not move important discussions forward without pondering about the complicated details, even if he had to make the other party wait for several minutes. "It's hard to tell if Aleister is completely unaware of us yet or if he is daring us to keep acting. After all, he isn't the kind of man to allow this to happen by accident."

"If you want my honest opinion, he might have felt something unusual is happening, but it is absolutely impossible for him to deduce what it is."

"Let's leave it at that for now." Rázval kept hearing as he arrived at a bus stop. "About that other matter…"

"Just as we were suspecting, there is another plane within Academy City similar to heaven. And there is more to it than that. Using a miniature version of that plane, they successfully managed to summon an artificial angel into the city."

"What?!"

"I can not tell if it was really intentional though. However… there might be a way to find out."

"How?"

"By running an experiment, but it will not be simple. Since we do not have a small scale replica like Academy City, it will be a worldwide scale spell. We will also need another spell to correct any disturbances that might occur in the process… in summary, we will need an unreasonable amount of Telesma for that. And finally… our existence will probably come to light afterwards. But we will also gain knowledge and several other benefits from it. What do you think?"

"Hmmmm…" Another pause, longer than the last one. The robbed man didn't seem bothered by it though. "Honestly… you should do it. It's about time we leave the shadows and start putting our plans into practice."

"I do agree with that."

"But can you actually pull that off?"

Rázval couldn't help but laugh. "Myrin, have you perhaps forgotten _what I was in the past?_ "

"Well… you sound confident, and my sister trusts you, so feel free to try whatever you want. What should we do to keep things in Academy City running on our favor in the meantime?"

"The gears are already spinning on their own, so nothing is needed. However, one or two rogue magicians causing trouble on the city right now would work as a trigger to speed up the process."

"Very well, we will be dispatching someone as soon as possible. Call us again once your preparations are complete."

Rázval pocketed his phone and grinned to the night sky. "Fufufufu… It is time to have some fun." The serene atmosphere around his body that prevented people to notice and doubt him was gone in a second, replaced by a sinister aura so filled of dread that not even the animals and bugs dared to get close to him.

…

In a certain apartment, Kumokawa Seria lied on the sofa wearing nothing but a white shirt over her underwear. She didn't bothered to turn on the lights. Right now, the darkness was comforting to her.

Her cellphone was placed on the table right beside the sofa, where it was possible to use it without picking it up. "Really… that last one left a bad taste in my mouth. I hope we don't have to recur to that forceful method ever again. Anyway, have you done what I asked?"

The person that answered was Kaizumi Tsugutoshi, the member of the Board of Directors that Seria worked for. "Yes, but just as you expected, she wasn't responsible for giving that order either. She is actually pretty worried about the situation right now. I feel bad for her."

"If it wasn't Oyafune, then there's no mistake: someone among the other ten is hijacking our team."

"Are you sure? We have no idea if Mayu told us the truth."

Seria closed her eyes and remembered what the two members of New Pointer had told her. "No, she certainly did. That woman is bothersome but she isn't stupid. Also, the boy seemed ready to receive punishment when I talked to him earlier today. In fact, the situation may be more serious than we can grasp."

Tsugutoshi sighed and said in a tiresome voice. "What should we do then? Disband the team to avoid it from happening again?"

"That is our most safe option… but let's leave that as a last resource. It is true that we don't need them as much as we needed in the past, but they are still our last trump card up our sleeve. We could use this opportunity to check who are our enemies and get rid of them before they try anything funny again."

"You're suggesting… to use them as a bait?"

"Just for now, yes. If things gets dangerous, then we can take a more proactive action."

 _Still… I don't like that. It feels like we're falling into a trap. The two of them are too defenseless alone, and whoever is behind this could use them to get to us._ As she thought on what else she could do, her eyes landed on the pile of papers scattered on the dinner table. Those were countless files regarding the Radio Noise and the Level 6 Shift project.

* * *

 **Hello everyone. First of all, happy new year! I got lazy during my vacation, but not too lazy to wait for it to end before releasing the chapter. An not any chapter, this one is the end of the second arc, and the end of the Breakdown. And unfortunately, the main character ends the arc on a hospital bed. Such misfortune! I'll keep myself in check to not use this trope too much. After all, that throne belongs to Touma and Touma alone.**

 **I can't comment too much on what happened without giving spoilers, so I'll keep this one short. Please leave your review if you can spare the time and thanks for the support. See you all later!**


	11. Magic Trick

**III**

 **Chapter 11: Final Push Towards the Forbidden**

 **Magic_Trick**

 **Part 1**

July 31th, 4:20 AM - Somewhere between the South and West gates of Academy City.

For the people on the ground level at this time, the sun was starting to rise, giving birth to a new day. But for the on higher altitudes, the sunlight was already as bright as one would expect for the morning. Usually, no one would be placed in such high altitude in the middle of Tokyo, but today was different. Two silhouettes were crawling they way up the walls of Academy City, almost reaching the top, far from the eyes of the guards or any kind of security system. Not that any of those would bother to stop them, on the contrary, they would want to keep distance.

Those silhouettes did not belong to human beings. Long, thin and swaying around in S shaped movements, they belonged to snakes, as strange as it may sound. The weirdest thing though wasn't their presence in this place, nor the fact they were unnaturally going up without any problem, but what they were carrying in their mouth: faced down playing cards.

After a long trip, they finally reached the top of the wall and quickly placed their cards down. With a swift movement of their tails, they flipped the cards revealing a 4 of hearts and a 4 of clovers. Then, both the snakes and the cards were surrounded by a vortex of black and red mist that lasted for a few seconds. Once it was over, the snakes were nowhere to be seen, just as if they were replaced by the two new figures standing next to each other, holding King cards from the same suits as the snakes.

"For the sake of God, your methods are way too abrupt. Using cards for a spell based on a chess move is just plain stupid and risky. I can't believe you made me wait for... how many hours was it?"

"Let's see... three hours, seventeen minutes and one second."

"That long? And to think we were supposed to take advantage of the darkness to get inside... Couldn't you have used something faster? Like your white pidgeots?"

"Both of our styles are directly linked to serpents. I wanted to increase the chances of success so I had no other choice."

They were males about the age of 19. The one complaining had dark brown skin, very short black hair under a white turban and black eyes. It was possible to see some silver marks growing from his marble robe on his neck and arms. He also wore moon shaped earrings and a sun shaped pendant hanging from his long necklace at the height of his abdomen. The other had shoulder length red hair, blue eyes and wore an outfit commonly used by stage magicians, topper hat and everything.

The former sighed and decided to drop the complaints for now. "Just try to be more focused from now on. We're in enemy territory."

"Yeah yeah, I know."

"You remember what you have to do, right?"

"Of course! I'm free to rampage to my heart's content as long as I don't pick the attention of the Imagine Breaker, right?"

Dumbfounded, the brown skinned male couldn't help but face palm. "... please try to do the least damage possible."

"I'm just kidding! C'mon, you're too serious! I promise I'll be discreet!"

 _It's hard to believe that when you're being so loud… heavens, this won't end well. Myrin should not have chose him out of all people._ Not standing the situation any longer, the robbed man turned around and started to walk on the wall towards west. "Well then, we split up here. Just try to not mess everything up. If they capture you, my mission will be compromised as well."

"Heh, leave it to me." After answering, the redhead jumped down the wall towards the city without a second thought "Ladies and gentleman of Academy City! You better be prepared for the show, because the glorious and illustrious Rüdiger Nowell has arrived! YAHOOOOOO!"

 **Part 2**

1:52 pm - Borderline between District 7 and District 1

Hishiro discretely eyed the skyscraper on the other side of the street. Today he was actually wearing the hood of his jacket and had sunglasses on his face. Was it a pointless attempt to hide his identity and calm himself or was he just trying to look cool and intimidating? Not even he knew anymore. The only thing in his mind now was the taste of the sandwich he just had and the amount of time he had wasted there.

No, it wasn't just waste of time. It was true that he didn't learn anything new about his current investigation, but the wait wasn't in vain. Something unusual was happening there. "Asuka, are you seeing this?"

"Yes… that's suspicious. I already lost count on how many times this had happened."

The building was supposed to belong to a corporation that dealt with business with outside the city, such as importations or materials and exportation of regularized merchandise. But in truth, this was the headquarters of an unofficial organization from the darkness of the city: LIZARD. Hishiro was held captive for a dozen of hours in a near death state inside there before Hinata saved him, so he didn't like the idea of being close to it, but that hardly mattered right now.

After Hishiro left the hospital, both him and Asuka received no more missions and were told to be on stand by. However, neither wanted to stay still after what had happened. They wanted to know about the nun from England, her pursuers, and more importantly - why the higher ups were trying so hard to hide this information from them, to the point of putting their previous operation in risk. That being said, they had no leads to investigate. Asuka wasn't able to search through the city using the surveillance satellite. Orihime 1 was shot down from the surface of the planet a few days ago, so for security reasons all connections to Hitoboshi 2 were restricted. She could hack and access it illegally, but doing so right now would disturb the investigation and even she knew that this was no joking matter. The only option they had left was to see what the other party involved in the case had that they didn't. Since LIZARD was involved with the USB drive incident, the two assumed it was worth a shot to investigate them and see what they could find. They weren't expecting this situation though...

Since about two hours ago, big vehicles such as trucks and buses filled with people - mostly children and teenagers, according to Asuka - have been arriving in intervals of 15 to 20 minutes. Men in black suits escorted them inside the building and so far, none of them has left. This couldn't pass as just a visit to the "company" anymore. Hishiro kept watching at a loss of words as a girl that looked like 4 or 5 years old followed the suspicious men into the shady facility. "What is the meaning of this? Are those kids their hostages or something? Is this a case of mass kidnapping?"

"No… that's probably not it." From the sounds coming from the communicator, Asuka was typing on her keyboard like crazy while she talked. "I found a few of them in the database using a face recognition software. They are mostly Child Errors at level 1 or 2 with some sort of involvement in the darkness or marked by Anti-Skill, aside from a few exceptions such as Gemstones and two level 4."

"So most of them aren't worthy hostages - is that what you're saying?"

"Roughly, yes."

Hishiro sighed and kept watching. More ten minutes passed and another bus arrived, just as full as the last one. "Would be great if I could sneak and see what's happening inside, but with so many people guarding the surroundings it's just impossible."

"Why don't you climb until the last floor and get inside using the female toilet's window, like you did in the Private Saloon back then?"

"Are you crazy? I'm not gonna do this ever again in my life! Do you have any idea of how many times I almost fell?"

"So… you wouldn't have any problem to sneak in like this if it was on ground level?"

"Stop messing around! Did you already forg- huh?" Something picked his attention before he could finish. More specifically, it was a girl leaving the bus that just arrived. "Isn't that… no way!"

"What is it? Did you find something?"

"Someone, not something." Still doubting his eyes, he removed his sunglasses. It was her, no doubt. "Do you believe in ghosts, Asuka?"

"Ghosts? What are you talking about, Shiro?"

"It's just that that girl over there was supposed to be dead. I personally killed her that day at the end of the Breakdown. Her name was… Yuko or Yuna, if I'm not mistaken. They were identical twins, so I don't know which one of them she is. The point is that I shot them both at gunpoint, there was a fire on that floor AND the building imploded. None of them could possibly survive all that."

Asuka stopped typing, probably looking at the monitor displaying the girl in question. "That's an amazing amount of details you have on a single person among all the others you you killed at that day. Are you sure it's her? Did you fall for her or something?"

Instead of falling for the provocation, Hishiro answered in a self loathing tone. "Let's just say they managed burn all that into my memory. Literally."

"Is that so?" Asuka sounded a bit disheartened that his reaction wasn't what she had expected. "But she looks pretty fine to me, and her twin is nowhere to be seen. I think I'll start from her then."

"Start? What do you mean?"

"If we want to understand what's happening, we need to get more info on the ones they are bringing in. Since you can't get inside, let me handle things for now. Once my research get some results I'll tell you."

"Are you asking me to step aside?"

"Yup, yup! Or do you actually like our conversations that much, even though you complain the whole time?"

"..."

"Oh my, oh my! This goes beyond the territory of Tsunderes, Shiro! Are you really the kind of masochist that-"

"I'm turning off." He mashed the red button so fast that he wasn't sure if his last words actually made trough. Asuka probably wanted to focus on her work, so it was for the best if he left and let her do her thing for now. Glancing one last time into the crowd, his eyes accidentally met the supposedly dead girl for a fraction of a second before he turned away, hoping that he was far enough for her to notice who he was.

 **Part 3**

"Such misfortune..."

"Touma, Touma, don't be sad. Long walks are good for your health."

"Since when you're knowledgeable on the subject, Index?"

"It was written on the panel in the waiting room of the hospital."

Side by side, the unfortunate spiky haired boy named Kamijou Touma and the white nun known as Index walked towards the south part of District 7. Usually they wouldn't be outside under the scorching sunlight in the middle of summer at this time of the day. Unfortunately, today Touma woke up later than usual just to find an starving Index in the living room ready to eat him alive. To avoid the tragedy, he decided it would be faster if they went to eat on a fast food restaurant since there were no ingredients left on the refrigerator. The problem is that a large accident had happened while they were having their meal and several bus and train lines stopped running, so they were forced to go back to the dorm by foot.

"This has to be a message from the heavens. The lord is telling us to exercise more."

"It's amazing how optimistic you can be when your stomach is full."

"Touma, Did you said something rude just now?"

"N-no. It's just your imagination."

Touma knew she wouldn't let that one slide and was bracing himself for the bites that were coming for him, but her attention was drawn by something else. "Hey, Touma… what's happening there?"

…

Hishiro just wanted to go home and slack off for the rest of the day (or until Asuka called him again) but the bus never came, no matter how long he waited. He managed to kill some time with his portable console, but quickly got tired of it. "For the sake of… *sigh* I guess I'll go walking. If the bus shows up along the way I can just stop it… even if I have to do it by force. But I have the feeling that it won't at all."

After a few hundreds of meters, a crowd in a park picked his interest. They were surrounding a single red haired person wearing a topper hat and a black cape. From the way he talked and exaggerated his movements, he was clearly doing a public show of some sort.

 _A magic show in an open area like this? Now that's something you don't see every day._ In Academy City, a place filled with espers with all kinds of abilities, it was hard to impress someone using this old fashioned kind of illusionism, even the younger children. That doesn't mean these didn't existed here at all, but they were really rare. Hishiro actually met two people who were fascinated with this kind of thing in the past: one was a former member of his team, while the other was a dear friend of a long time ago...

"... heh, this brings me back some memories." Filled with nostalgia, he decided to watch from a distance for a little while.

...

Loud applauds and cheers roared when the cards were revealed displaying an apparent impossible outcome. The red haired male bowed in appreciation and took advantage of the motion to search through the crowd once again. If his plan were to work as intended, the people he was looking for should arrive at any time. And they were there just as he expected… well, two of the three, at least. He grinned widely, barely being able to contain the excitement of what was about to happen.

...

"That wasn't half bad. This guy got some skills." Hishiro did not noticed, but he was actually smiling like a kid as he applauded. He thought he was good at finding out the tricks used behind the act, but he wasn't able to grasp what had happened at all this time. And not only him, everyone, even the older people around were surprised.

"Waaaa! That was amazing! Touma, Touma, did you see that? I can't believe he did it without using any real magic!"

"Yeah, he is pretty good. I wonder if it's all skill or if he's using some sort of esper ability."

"..."

 _*Freeze*._ The brown haired boy heard the voice of a girl and his heart almost stopped. He had heard that voice before, and it belonged to… _Could it be?_ This familiar voice. This familiar gut feeling. He gulped, slowly turned around and… there she was, wearing the same white clothes as before. There was no mistake. He walked towards her and couldn't stop thinking that this was too much of a coincidence to be just a chance meeting. "You're... Index?"

The nun was surprised for a moment when her name got called up all of a sudden. That is, until she found out that the voice came from a familiar face. "Oh, it's Hishiro!"

"Hishiro?" Touma was at a loss. Because of some special (and unfortunate) circumstances, the boy had lost his memories. It was clear to him that Index knew this person, but he wasn't sure if he was supposed to know him as well or not, and he didn't want to let anyone to notice about his memory loss.

Actually, not even Hishiro himself knew how to deal with the situation. _Stupid me. I walked to her on raw impulse, but what am I supposed to do? Until now I could swear she was dead. Should I ask her if she really got attacked by that woman? And if so, how did she survive?_ But in the end, he lost his will to ask while she was smiling happily. Not to mention that he didn't know how to treat that boy beside her. Unlike her, he seemed to be just a normal inhabitant of the city.

"Touma, This is Hishiro Yamazaki. He helped me out a lot on the day we met each other. No, he basically saved my life. I'm really thankful to him."

 _So I never met him before… that makes things easier._ Touma sighed in relief. "Hi, I'm Kamijou Touma. Nice to meet you, and thank you for taking care of Index."

"H-hi. By the way, she's exaggerating. All I did was offer her lunch. She looked like she was starving though."

"I see… That explains it..."

"Touma. Did you just said something rude again?"

"N-no, of course not!"

"Humpf!" Pouting, she turned back to Hishiro. "But still, we're lucky to meet again. I must repay you for that day."

"Lucky huh…" _Just like before, this is way too convenient. Is she stalking me? No, that's impossible, at least for today. I'm here just because the goddamn bus has yet to come. She couldn't have foreseen it or set it up, could she? Let's see how she reacts…_ "Actually, I'm here just because no buses appeared, so I'm walking to stop from stop. But at this rate, I might get home before it comes."

Touma smiled wryly at him after hearing that. "Then you're actually just as unlucky as we are. There was an accident and the transport on the districts around had stopped for today. So we are walking home too… a very long walk…"

Index patted his back and said with a holy aura around her. "But just as I thought, this has to be a message from the lord. It all happened so we could run into each other and give me a chance to repay him."

 _This divine repayment is going to come from my wallet, isn't it?_ Kamijou thought but didn't had the courage to say it out loud. _Third time's the charm… she may bite my head off if I let something else slip._

"An accident..." This sounded suspicious, but he was not thinking that she or this boy had anything to do with it. _Lizard was using a lot of buses to gather all that people. Could they be behind this?_

…

 _Bingo! Initial contact confirmed! It's too bad that the other girl isn't here, but I can't waste this opportunity. I'm gonna start the real show now! First… I need to get rid of the Imagine Breaker._

The magician made a gesture signalling he was about to start his next trick and the crowd quickly got silent. "For my next magic, I'll need someone from the audience once again." On hearing that, everyone raised their hands hoping to be picked, but the red haired male already had someone in mind. "Let's see… You over there!"

"Oh- Touma, I think he is pointing to you."

"Eh? Me?!"

Grinning widely, the magician confirmed. "Yes, you there boy! Don't be shy, come over here!"

 _Why… do I have a bad feeling about this?_ Since the attention of everyone around had fallen on him, Touma couldn't refuse. He walked forward and climbed the improvised stage.

"Well… that confirms that his show isn't a setup." Hishiro wasn't happy with the way things had gone. He wanted to ask the boy about Index as soon as possible. _I hope this one doesn't take too long._ He watched as the man drew a circle on the floor around the boy and handed him a card - a king of clovers.

Then, he took out a cheap looking magic wand and tapped Touma's head a few times. "Now, please use your _left hand_ to place it inside the circle on the floor, then close your eyes and count to three."

Hishiro kept watching curiously. "What is he going to do? I never seen someone using such steps for a trick. He is probably trying to draw our attention to that circle so we don't notice what he is actually doing… hey, is there something wrong."

Index was looking intently towards the stage, but her face had a serious expression. Even more serious than the one she wore back when Hishiro tried to get more information on her. "The card's suit… the wand on his hand…their positioning... left hand... Is this just a coincidence?"

Touma had already his eyes closed and was counting. The magician glanced one last time to the crowd. No, it felt as if he looked directly at Index and Hishiro. Even the brown haired boy felt something was wrong. _What was that just now?_

And then…

"This is… Telesma? Touma!"

It was already too late. Numberless white pidgeots flew from inside the magician's toplet and surrounded Kamijou, making it impossible to see what was happening inside. But for a tenth of second, Hishiro and Index had seen a vortex of black mist swallowing the boy. Before they could react though, the pidgeots dispersed and no one was there anymore. Actually, even the floor underneath Touma's feet had disappeared, along with the hand drawn circle. The only thing left was the card, flying about a meter and half above the ground. The red haired male quickly grabbed it and revealed that it was a four of clovers.

The crowd applauded once again, louder than before. "Thank you, thank you everyone! That's all for today!" And with that said, everyone suddenly became silent. They all turned around and walked away unnaturally, leaving only Index, Hishiro and the magician behind.

"W-what the heck?" All at once, a huge sense of danger filled Hishiro's body. _This pressure… it feels just like that other day with that woman… wait! Didn't Asuka said something about people leaving the surroundings of the dorm in a weird way?! Could this be…?!_ He looked at Index for a moment before staring at the red haired man. She seemed to be as nervous as him (but not as scared). "Who are you? Just what have you done?"

The man jumped down the improvised stage and slowly approached the two. "The Forbidden Library and The Seed of Doubt. It's a pleasure to meet you both in person. I am the great Rüdiger Nowell! Or should I introduce myself as Genius472 to you, little girl?"

 **Part 4**

Inside a certain windowless building, the human floating upside down inside the liquid filled cylinder narrowed his brows for a very short moment. He had the whole city under his constant control and vigilance the whole time. Naturally, the anomaly that just had happened not to far away from there wouldn't escape his senses. Inf fact, it was as if they weren't trying to hide it at all. On the contrary, it felt as if they were begging to be found out. As if saying "I'm right here. So what?"

"Just who in the world dares to challenge me openly like this?"

 **Part 5**

When Kamijou came to himself, he was filled with utter despair. "This… can't be happening to me…"

He was standing on a circular plate of wood (which happened to be part of the stage he was just a moment ago) in front of a certain fast food restaurant that he and Index had eaten about an hour ago.

"I'm back here… so that means..." Of course, that meant he had to walk even more to get back to the dorm. "SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

 **Between the Lines**

 _The gears of this city really move on their own._ Thought Tsuchimikado. He was inside a clean white room located inside the infamous Reformatory - a jail built specially to safely confine Espers. Aside from him, there was only a single other person there, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room: a tall man with brown beard that answered by the name of Hideaki Kihara, though the name was probably fake.

The man raised his head to look at the younger male just once before lowering it again, making it clear that he had no intention to cooperate. "Please tell me you are here for my punishment. I had enough of interrogatories."

"Hmmm… have you thought that people would stop interrogating you if you answered their questions, nyah~?"

"..."

"Well, you don't have to worry. I have a few questions for you, but it's regarding another issue."

"..."

"First of all, let me be clear: I don't waste time on small fries. If the city summons me to deal with them, it's for either get rid of them without leaving a trace or they have something valuable for me to get the big ones. Can you see where I'm getting at, nyah~?"

Hideaki finally reacted with a slight wry smile. "Are you saying that we were looked at as _small fries_ all along?"

"Yup, that's exactly it. But you don't have to get depressed over it nyah~. This city has many enemies. If you knew the true scale of things, you wouldn't be able to sleep in peace at night." Tsuchimikado picked a few pictures from his pocket and placed them on the table in front of Hideaki. "You do recognize this, right? Of course you do. Your pawns worked really had to get their hands on it and so did I to get it back. Or that was what I thought at first."

"?"

"We already asked a few of your underlings we captured that night and none of them knew about it. But a bird told me you're smarter than them so maybe you have something on the matter that they didn't." The blond boy adjusted his sunglasses and stared deep into the eyes of them older male before asking. "Did you know that the suitcases got switched while they were with your group?"

"... What?"

"When I took the case back, we found out that it wasn't the same one you guys had stolen. And yet, the contents were all still inside it. Can you explain what happened?"

Hideaki was unwilling to answer at first, but the topic picked his interest. "We didn't switched it, as far as I can tell. At that time, this action would be pointless."

"Are you sure you weren't trying to fool us by having two suitcases in the facility?"

"That would be risky and stupid. We could end up with the wrong one. And you would've noticed if we had let you take a fake. Just like you did." He scratched his beard and thought for a second. "If it got switched, it wasn't because of us. So… I can only think of one possibility. We got tricked in our own game. Someone else had got their hands on it."

"We figured the same." Said Tsuchimikado while shrugging. "What we can't figure out is why someone would go through all the trouble of reaching the treasure just to leave it behind, nyah~."

Both males got silent for a whole minute. Tsuchimikado assumed that it was pointless to keep it going since Hideaki really knew nothing and was about to leave when the other party spoke. "Perhaps… their goal was exactly this."

"What do you mean?"

"The only possibility I can think of is that they didn't want anything with the contents, but they wanted to be known that they could have taken it away if they wished to do so."

"In other words, they were provoking us? Sorry, but I don't think that someone is dumb enough to go through all the risks for just that."

"Indeed. But wouldn't it be a serious problem if there was someone with the power to accomplish it so easily that those risks meant nothing to them?"

The possibility sounded too far fetched. Under normal circumstances, the hawaiian shirt boy would have laughed it off, but he couldn't this time, even if he wanted to do so. This situation was unusual and that was the very first possibility that made some sense. _If… just if someone like this really exists..._

"Also... I just remembered something. You said you were the one that recovered the suitcase, correct? My men reported that a blond girl wearing a beret and a miniskirt was spotted carrying it away."

"What?"

"I do not think they mistook you for a girl, so I can only assume that she was the one that took the original suitcase away."

* * *

 **And a new arc starts once again. This time I made a huge set up in the very first chapter. Yup, things are going to get messy from here on.**

 **Touma finally made his appearance! Cheers! Of course, he can't meet a true magician at this point in time, or else it would end up in a time paradox that not even Aleister could deal with. (or could he?) But don't worry, he has a very important role in this arc, so expect to see more of him in the future. For now, Index will be on the spotlight together with Hishiro. I guess you can already see where I'm going with this...**

 **As for the two magicians, Nowell is based on an idea i had in my mind for a while. Why not disguise a magician... as a magician? (lol) The result is, as you can see, a loud, showy, reckless and yet brilliant trickster that pokes fun at the chairman when trying to be discreet. I'm saving what his style is based on for the next few chapters... but I wonder if anyone can find out how his card spell works? The second one is going to be a secret for now, but I did left a few hints about him for you to speculate. ;)**

 **Again, please leave your reviews (or else Index will bite you while you sleep (would that be a bad thing though? XD)) . Special thanks for the people helping me with typos and ideas in the backstage of this story (pun intended) and see you guys on the next chapter!**


	12. Unscientific

**III**

 **Chapter 12: Battle Against the Unknown**

 **Unscientific**

 **Part 1**

"You… What do you want?! What have you done with Touma?!" Index yelled at the man named Rüdiger Nowell.

"The Imagine Breaker? I just sent him elsewhere since he was going to get in the way of my show. As for what I want… Well, you're a smart girl. I'll give you a chance to guess what it is, and if you do, I might tell you where the boy ended up."

Index frowned and answered without even needing to think. "You are after the grimoires, right?"

"Too bad, this isn't the case today." He shook his head. "Well, as a magician, of course it's tempting to take a peek on your precious treasure, but it would be suicide to do so without the proper preparations. And if I just wanted that, why would I let him stay?" As he said that, Rüdiger pointed at Hishiro who was still frozen in place.

Index didn't noticed that the brown haired boy was still there until this moment and panicked. "No! Leave him out of this! He has nothing to do with-"

" _Beeep_ \- sorry, but you're wrong again! There's a reason why the three of us are together at this place and time."

"What? Why?" The man didn't answered and wavered his wand as if drawing something in the air. The nun understood what he was doing right away.

"Both the God and his priests hold the fate of the sick and the injured in their hands. In the right lies the staff that keeps the flames of life burning inside the weak bodies of the unfortunate." After chanting, an ember lighted up on the tip of the wand. Moving it one last time, Rüdiger drew an "S" in the air that turned into a snake. The creature fell to the ground and stared at Index and Hishiro with flame colored eyes.

Index widened her eyes when she saw it "A mixture of regular mana and telesma… no, that's not all of it. Something's off. This spell… I don't understand what it means..."

 _This… is not good. I don't know what is going on, but that thing is dangerous!_ Hishiro's instincts were warning him that as the serpent slowly made its way towards them. "We should get out of here… C'mon, let's run!" And so he forcefully grabbed her hand and pulled the girl with him as fast as possible. As if waiting for that, the snake opened its jaw and an unholy amount of flames fell from it like a waterfall. In a matter of seconds, the whole area that was full of people laughing and enjoying their vacation minutes ago became a wasteland of fire.

Hishiro heard the explosive noise and made the mistake of looking behind. "What the fucking heck?! What kind of ability is this?! I never heard of a fire manipulation esper with such power!"

"No, you're wrong!" Said Index with a sad and desperate look on her eyes as she struggled to keep up with him. "He's not an esper!"

"That just makes everything worse!" If she was right, then how was that possible? No, not that wouldn't make sense even if he was an esper. After all, there was that snake appearing out of nowhere before the flames even started. Unless he was the first and only multi-skill esper to ever exist, nothing inside this city could explain what had just happened. _That's not the time to figure things out. First I need lose this pyromaniac._ He glanced behind again to see if they were being followed and saw Rudiger running after them drawing more and more symbols in the air with his wand. "Oh crap, here it comes again!"

This time, five snakes appeared and shot fire to the sky instead of directly at them. The projectiles drew an arc in the sky each and then they came raining down like arrows. None of them hit, but wherever they stroke the asphalt a pillar of fire rose, forcing them to walk around it. It was just as if they were being guided towards a certain point. Luckily Index noticed it in time and threw herself to the side, dragging Hishiro with her. "Watch out!"

A card - more precisely, a nine of clovers - was lying on the ground a few steps ahead of them and it suddenly exploded, raising a wall of fire that blocked the whole street ahead. _Dammit, we're cornered!_ Hishiro stood up as fast as he could and braced himself for the imminent battle. Memories of the one-sided fight he had with the katana woman assaulted him and made him tremble in fear as Rüdiger got closer.

"And in the left lies the knife that cuts the threads pulling their souls towards the depths of the river of the dead." After chanting those words, the magician took a glass shard from the inside of his toplet and used it to stab one of the snakes. All other snakes literally melted down, turning into crystal clear water, and merged together with the injured one. The result was a giant water serpent waving its body like a river and charging right at Hishiro and Index.

The attack looked overwhelming, but it was too predictable and they both managed to dodge it without problem. The giant snake crashed head first into a tree placed at the sidewalk. Anyone would expect the tree to fall over due to the force of the impact, but that didn't happened. Instead, it withered and in ten seconds, making it look like a tree that had been dead for several months. Hishiro stared at the scene completely astonished. "Just what the..."

"The snake is definitively a symbol for a river. To drain the life force like that, the river it represents must be..." Index incomprehensible analysis got cut off when the snake lifted its head and headed towards her.

"Hey! It's coming for you!" The nun ignored the boy's warning and stood still fearlessly in front of the upcoming attack.

"It's alright, don't worry." She stared deep in the eyes of the deadly serpent approaching at a devastating speed. Right when it was about to hit her... "T-A-A-A-T-O-D (turn around and attack the opposite direction)" Then the snake forcefully made a large turn to the left and went charged towards Rüdiger - or almost. It passed by him, missing for a few meters.

The red haired man froze on his bases for a few seconds looking legitimately astonished, before breaking into a laugh. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was a close one! For a moment there I really thought you had it in you to kill me with my own spell! I guess I shouldn't underestimate Necessarius's trump card."

 _I wasn't trying to kill him, but the spell was supposed to go right to his direction. Why did it go out of his way to make such a large turn? Does he have some safety set up in the spell? Or did I make a mistake?_ With her eyes narrowed and her mind at full steam, Index was ready to take and counter anything her enemy tried, determined to protect the boy that had helped her before. "Run away while you can! I'll keep him busy!"

"... tsk!" Hishiro was legitimately afraid. The whole situation made no sense and the only thing he was sure of is that his life was in danger. _But if I'm in danger, so is she. Even though she somehow managed to manipulate that thing, I can't afford risking losing her again. After all, she is the lead I was waiting for!_ He picked his gun and stood right beside her. "Like hell I would run away and leave you behind."

"H-huh? No, you can't stay!" Protested the nun. "It's dangerous for you! And this isn't about you, it's all because of me-"

"It doesn't matter! Even if you can somehow stand on your own against him, I won't let you risk your life for the sake of someone like me, you got that?" He forcefully cut her sentence, making her blink many times without knowing what to do. "I don't know what you two have to do with each other, but he clearly tried to kill me just now and now he needs to pay for it."

"Hohoho, those are some strong words kiddo." Rüdiger interrupted and challenged the boy. "Can you back them up?"

"It'll be too late to regret it once you find out." Then, both males took action at the same time. The magician spread his arms holding a two of clovers, and two fire snakes appeared floating in mid air. Hishiro tried his luck and shot at them, hitting one at least three times. The flames were unable to maintain its form and dissipated. The second snake twirled around in the air to avoid the shots and charged forward towards Hishiro's face, but it was unable to hit.

"B-T-B-D-A-I-S! (bend the body downwards and increase speed)" At Index's command, the serpent forcefully turned down and exploded on the asphalt. Hishiro sidestepped the blast and quickly reloaded his gun, ready to aim at Rüdiger this time.

However four more snakes were already heading his way. Clicking his tongue, he desperately pulled the trigger and destroyed two of them. Index redirected the third to the wall of a nearby building, but the last one forced him to use his ability to slow it down and dodge. But something unexpected happened.

When the snake touched the distorted field of Null Inertia, a loud static noise roared through the whole street. All three of them covered their ears out of reflex. The flames changed colors multiple times, got deformed, shot upwards and finally exploded like a firework rocket. _What the heck just happened?!_ Before Hishiro could even think about it, Rüdiger had already recovered from the shock and was standing right in front of him, ready to perform a high kick.

"Guha-!" Hishiro was sent flying backwards while the magician sent more snakes at him.

"T-L, I-A-O-M-B-A-H-T-W! (turn left, intertwine all other moving bodies and hit the wall)" The last snake in the left followed the orders and intercepted the other incoming attacks before self-destructing. It gave enough time for Hishiro to get to his foot again and shoot at Rüdiger.

The Magician saw it coming and ignited another nine of clovers on his hand. The fire wall blocking the street disappeared and a new wall appeared in front of him, melting the bullets before they could harm him. The barrier disappeared again after a few seconds, but no one moved. Rüdiger, which seemed to be as composed as he was before the fight started, smiled nonchalantly while Hishiro and Index surrounded him from both sides.

 _Dammit… he's just toying with me. But I won't lose my temper like last time. There's gotta be an opening in his attacks that I can make use of._ While Hishiro panted heavily, Rüdiger tried to make a move and pulled 4 cards out of his sleeve. They were a 6, 7, 8 and 9 of clovers and a 3 of hearts…

"... of hearts? Wait-" The magician panicked and the cards exploded on his hand raising a thick curtain of smoke. Index grinned as she held something - a ten of clovers. "You get distracted too easily."

Hishiro had no intention of losing this opportunity and charged forward. He sent a punch to Rüdiger's face which was easily dodged, but followed up with a knee in the gut that hit cleanly. While the older male stumbled backwards, Hishiro aimed at his lower body, hitting the knee on the third shot.

The magician groaned in pain but didn't let that get to him. He rolled backwards to get some distance and threw a Jack of hearts. "Let the waters of death purify your soul!" These words triggered a cyclone of water. Hishiro avoided most of it, but a single drop fell on his cheek, making it burn intensely which halted his movements for a moment.

Rüdiger prepared two more cards to throw, but Hishiro froze his left hand's movements before he could do it. He then summoned another flame snake from his right, but Index's words made it self-destruct again.

"Whew... You two are good team, I'll give you that." Admitted the magician. "I better try a little harder or else I might really die here!" With his hand still paralyzed, he used his injured leg to kick something into the air - a red joker. "Walnnar mumtir min alssama'i, tathir al'ard min fasadiha! (And fire rained from the skies, cleansing the land from its corruption)"

 _What was that?_ The words - which Hishiro assumed that were from a foreign language - gave birth to a massive blast above of them and a giant flame snake came down.

"T-T-T-L, A-F- huh? Wha-!" Index tried to use her trick again, but before she finished, the snake turned into countless smaller ones that twisted from their original path and rained towards the girl.

"Not good!" Hishiro dashed towards her with the intention of pushing her away from the attack area, but the magician stood on his way and summoned another barrage of serpents at close range. On reflex, Hishiro pulled the AMCP and tried to shoot down all of them with both guns at the same time.

However, he forgot the fact that the bullets continued forward after dissipating the flames. Several of them, including the high caliber ones fired from the cannon pistol, hit Rüdiger on the head, chest and right arm. Blood and flesh splattered around while the magician fell limp on the asphalt with his eyes wide open. His attacks also disappeared on the spot, but neither Hishiro nor Index were paying attention to that anymore.

 _Did I really... did it actually work on him?_ For a moment, Hishiro doubted the scene in from of him. Up until now, he was treating Rüdiger like a monster instead of human being due to the man's unexplainable techniques, but in the end, he was just made of flesh and bones. When given this much damage, there was no way a human could survive.

Index stared blankly at the corpse. Hishiro was expecting a stronger reaction from her, but surprisingly she didn't even turned much pale. It was more like she was on cooldown from the battle instead of shocked from the grotesque scene.

"S-should I have held back a little?" Asked the boy in a half joking tone.

"No, it's alright." She answered as if trying to make him not feel guilty. "He attacked us first, so it's his fault, not yours."

Hishiro walked to her side and quickly inspected her for any injuries. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. More importantly... your cheek."

"Hm? What's wrong with- OW!"

"Don't touch it or it might spread out!" She warned a bit too late. "That spell was supposed to instantly kill on contact, but it seems that the symbol of the serpent sent it into disarray and is now behaving like a poison. We may be able to treat it in time."

Hishiro didn't understand most of it, but he got the basic idea: he was lucky to survive but there was still the danger of death. Even though that was true, a few things took priority over treating wounds. First of all, they couldn't just leave the corpse in the open like this. And also…

"Huh? What? What are you doing?" Protested Index once she noticed that the boy had handcuffed her.

"Sorry, but the situation escalated beyond the point we can solve everything with a friendly chat." Answered Hishiro while pulling her towards a back alley and turning on the communication device. "Come with me. You'll be explaining all of this from the beginning to the end."

 **Part 2**

Without even a hello, the first thing Asuka said when she picked up the call was "So, what have you got yourself into this time?"

"Hey! That's… actually true… how did you know?"

"Female intuition. Totally has nothing to do with the fact that whenever you call me while I'm investigating something, it is to give me even more trouble to look into."

"Hey! That's n-… actually true too. Sorry."

Asuka giggled at his reaction. "Well, I found out some interesting things and was about to call you too anyway. So, what had happened."

Hishiro opened his mouth, but for his surprise, he couldn't find the words to explain to her. "W-well… where should I start from… I guess I kinda need you to send someone to pick up a corpse-"

"WHAT?! You killed someone in broad daylight?"

Index, which was still handcuffed and hearing everything from the side, decided to cut in. "No, that's not it! He had done nothing wrong! It was just self defence!"

Asuka stayed quiet for a moment before talking again. "Hey, Shiro… is there someone else with you?"

"Stop it. I know where you're going with this."

"And it's a girl, right?"

"Just stop it."

"Could it be-"

"Stop already and listen!" Trying to control himself, Hishiro cleaned his throat before continuing. "Let me introduce you to each other. Asuka, this is Index, our missing intruder."

"Wait, you found… and she's still… hold on, I need to see it for myself!" Less than ten seconds later, a nearby camera started moving on its own with a mechanical noise and focused on the girl. "I don't believe it, it's really her! Hello~* I'm Asuka Mayu, nice to meetcha~*"

"H-hello..." Index was having a hard time trying to keep up with this development. She kinda got that the device on Hishiro's hand was made for communication by watching his actions, but when the camera was involved too, she didn't know where she should be looking at while speaking.

Asuka payed no heed to the girl's confusion and kept talking. "Shiro is giving you too much trouble, I guess? I know he's hard to deal with, but I wish the best for the two of you~*! Just remember that I'm the main wife and-"

"WHAT IS THIS CRAP ALL ABOUT?! Godammit Asuka, she's a nun! Can you please tone down your jokes for a second? And what's with this main wife stuff?!"

"Oh my, looks like I got rejected. What a shame. But it can't be helped, Shiro does like younger girls after all~*"

"Even IF that was the case, you have some serious problems to solve about yourself before trying to blame your age!"

"Hey! That's ru-… hmm, that may actually be true." She admitted without caring too much, which pissed the boy even further.

"A-NY-WAY, can we get back to the topic here?" After Asuka finally stopped laughing, Hishiro tried to explain more or less what had happened. She didn't believe at first and had to watch the recordings to be able to accept it. Index seemed like she had something to say during the explanation, bet she gave up and waited before they had said everything they wanted first.

It took a whole minute for Asuka to say something after the explanation was over. "Okay… what he did during the battle is utterly incomprehensible, so let's try and find a clue on something else. He called you a _Seed of Doubt_ … do you have any idea what it means?"

"Nope… but her case is different." Hishiro said while pointing at Index. "He called you the _Forbidden Library_ , right? And if I remember correctly, your full name had something to do with libraries, am I right?"

The nun lowered her head and confirmed. "Yes. Index Librum Prohibitum… that's me. I am a Forbidden Library."

"This name... it does sound familiar for some reason." Commented Asuka.

"You might know it as the list of books that were forbidden by the Catholic Church during the middle age." Explained Index. "My name refers to that exactly. I have with me all 103,000 books that are considered as a taboo not only to the Catholics, but for other religions as well. That's why magicians often hunt me in search of that forbidden knowledge I carry… though that wasn't the case this time. Sorry, but I don't know the meaning of this Seed of Doubt, nor why he purposefully dragged you into this."

Hishiro looked even more puzzled than he was before the explanation. "Wait, wait, wait, gimme a second. First of all, why are these old books even important? I thought you could find any book on the internet nowadays."

"Because they are not regular books, they are grimoires. The magic knowledge contained on them is on its purest form, so no copy of their content on any form is close to it's worth."

FREEZE. The bells started ringing inside Hishiro's head once again and he couldn't even move or change his facial expression. "You don't believe a word I'm saying, do you?"

The boy took a while before answering. Deep inside his memories, he remembered what ITEM's liaison said about the contents of that USB drive: _"It was full of terms such as Anglican Church, Magic and Grimoires. Of course, it probably didn't meant those words literally. It has to be some kind of code so only those involved would understand. After reading it all, my best guess is that it was about ambassadors from England coming into Academy City in secret, and someone being interested in the technology they were bringing with them."_

"Sorry, but this is a bit too much for me to handle at once. You're saying that that guy was a real magician instead of an illusionist?"

"Yes, that's right."

"So… those strange attacks he was using on us..."

"It was all magic."

Rubbing his temples, Hishiro gave up on trying to accept it on his own. "... what do you think, Asuka?"

She also took a while before answering. "On moments like this we have to be more open minded, Shiro. It is a fact that we can't explain how they managed to make the crowd go away so conveniently, how he made the boy disappear or how he managed to pull out all those weird powers out of nowhere. If the circumstances were different, I would say that some organization had set it all up in order to confuse us, but..." The camera focused on Index once again. "The contents of the USB Drive and her statement are key elements we can't ignore."

"Then we should take as the true?"

"For now, let's just say there are other sets of rules out there in the world that we don't understand, so don't fry your brain over it. We need to focus on why were you two attacked and what connections there are with the previous case."

 _Calm, composed and logic. Why can't she always be like this?_ Hishiro thought, but decided against voicing it because she was doing more progress on the matter than himself.

Asuka was still 'facing' the nun and continued. "Index-chan, can you give us a brief explanation on how this magic works?"

"I wouldn't mind but I'm worried about Touma. And we really have to do something about this curse or you might end up dying."

"Oh, right. I almost forgot about that." He couldn't see it, but the purplish mark on his cheek was slowly spreading.

"Good grief. You have to pay more attention to yourself, Shiro."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, what should I do about it? Is there a magic spell to heal it instantly or something like that?"

"I'll see what I can do once you take those off me." Said Index puffing her cheeks. Hishiro had honestly forgot about the handcuffs as well. After her hands were free again, Index got closer to him and looked intently at the mark while narrowing her eyes.

"Unfortunately, none of us can use magic. But don't worry, there is another solution. Do you have water with you?"

"Huh? Ah, no, not right now. If you're thirsty, we can buy-"

"It's not for me, it's for you." Index took a quick look around to see if there was anything she could use, but there wasn't even a puddle inside the back alley they were currently in. "We don't have much time… I guess it can't be helped. Hold still for a moment." She then licked her thumb and pressed lightly against the center of the mark on Hishiro's cheek. The sudden action took him by surprise and he almost took a step away from her, but she used her other hand to keep him in place. "Don't move."

She sounded so serious that his body froze in place. Index closed her eyes and started to sing in a low tone. Hishiro had no idea of what she was trying to do and doubted her, but he started to feel tingling sensation spreading from where she was touching to his whole face. After little time she stopped and looked closely at him again with a satisfied smile on her face. "D-did it work?"

"Hmhm, it's gone. You're fine now."

"Amazing…" Asuka sounded legitimately surprised, which was rare. "So this is magic?"

"Not exactly. Like I said, I can't use magic. Can I go look for Touma now? I'll answer anything after I find him."

"Oh, let me handle that! That's the least I can do for helping Shiro."

Index didn't seem to like the idea. The two of them were already getting too involved in this incident, and she didn't understand how that Asuka could help without even being there. Hishiro picked on that and assured her. "You can leave it to her. Asuka will get the job done faster than us, specially if we were to look for him walking around randomly. She sounds stupid most of the time, but she's somewhat capable to get things done when she's serious."

"EEH?! Is that what you think about me?"

"That was a compliment. Trust me." Before Asuka could complain further, Hishiro suggested. "I'm beat... let's go to somewhere we can sit at least." He took the lead and Index followed, still looking a bit troubled.

"Hey, Shiro" Asuka said in a lower tone so only him would hear. "Just now... when she was doing... y' know-"

"S-shut up. And never bring this up again." Index couldn't see it, but he blushed from head to toe just for remembering what had happened.

 **Part 3**

Slowly, but surely, the man opened his eyes.

There was a pool of blood on the ground around him, but his body had no wounds.

Still, this blood was no doubt his.

"Cough cough! T-that was surprising... and very painful... Hahahaha, I can still feel it..."

His body was hurting on several spots. It was almost unbearable, to the point he doubted that he was going to survive. But he could still move it as if nothing had happened. He managed to stand up and confirmed once again that he was in one piece.

The red haired male picked his toplet, which was unfortunately dirtied with his own blood, and placed it on his head where it belonged

 _Rázval really has an eye for talents... no wonder why he had chosen that boy. I could never had imagined he was an Exception. Hehe, now I'm getting excited! I can't wait to see what the other Seed of Doubt can do!_

Rüdiger took a last deep breath and stretched his arms before walking away in search of his runaway targets. "Alright, time for round two!"

* * *

 **A long time of wait for a not so long chapter and no mysterious Between the Lines… I'm sorry. Funny that I had it ready for a week now and forgot to upload it.**

 **Anyway, the truth is, I'm getting involved with two projects (regarding game development) and that's why I've been absent. But now that things are on the rails, I'll be updating on my usual schedule of one chapter every two weeks… probably. lol**

 **This was basically an action oriented chapter, so there's not much to comment on. Please leave your reviews, it might remember me about posting a ready chapter if this ever happens again (and I hope it doesn't...). As always, special thanks for my life saver guest who keeps spotting the typos that my (im)perfect visual memory seems to let slide and to Banditz for giving me some neat ideas. Index is pretending to reveal everything next chapter, so look forward to it!**


	13. Parallel Lines

**III**

 **Chapter 13: Savior's Hand, Killer's Blade**

 **Paralel_Lines**

 **Part 1**

"Dammit… that's just too much..."

Beneath the scorching heat of the summer sunlight, Kamijou Touma was dragging himself through the streets of the District 7. More than an hour has passed after the trains and buses stopped running due to an accident, and yet, there was no saying when the transport system was going to go back to normal. That implied two things:

First, there were significantly less people on the streets, even though it was the middle of the summer vacation.

And second, Kamijou had no other option but to walk the same path home a second time, since he was somehow brought back to the restaurant by the street magician. _How did he even do that anyway? Teleportation? Ahhh… no use. I'm too tired to think._

Seeing that he wasn't doing much progress, he thought it was for the best to rest a little in a nearby shop. "Even though I should hurry… pathetic, Kamijou Touma. Index is probably worried. At least she's not hungry anymore and she has that friend of hers, so I don't think she's going to get mad at me… hopefully."

The minutes flew by as he let his body cool down while watching the scenery. Every now and then, a car would pass by on the street. A few birds could be seen on the tree nearby. A black cat ran from one brush for another. And Anti-Skill squad marched quickly on the crossroads-

"?" It may have been because the street was devoid of all people, but that scene in particular picked his attention. They were running in formation carrying heavy looking guns and riot shields. Upon closer inspection, their uniforms and shields were lacking the so familiar Anti-Skill emblem. _And judging from their size, aren't they too young to be part of Anti-Skill? Why am I having a bad feeling about this?_

...

Not much far away from where Touma was, a short black haired girl wearing a black tank top and blue miniskirt slowly climbed up the stairs leading to the exit of District 7 underground mall while talking to someone over the phone. "Your theory sounded reasonable, but I just confirmed that the underground mall is clean. It's also possible that they had seen me coming and ran away before I got there, since there is no crowd for me to blend in. How it went on your end, Kai?"

She was Hinata Sazuko, the mysterious former member of New Pointer. Thanks to the lack of transport (which wasn't a problem for her), it was easier to investigate areas that would be full of people otherwise, and she was taking full advantage of that.

"That's possible. They may be careless, but they aren't outright dumb. Then again, ever since _that time_ , they had been recruiting a large amount of people, so their groups shouldn't be hard to find." On the other side of the line was Kai, also a former member of New Pointer. Supposedly, none of them should be involved with the dark side of the city anymore, but both still had their own reasons to be digging beyond the safety line even after they had officially retired. "I had no luck here on District 22 either, so I guess it was just a massive waste of time. Sorry for dragging you into this."

"I see… don't worry, doing this is not a bother. Besides, my own goals are related to this somehow, so I just can't ignore this chance-"

*Flap flap flap flap*

Faintly, but surely, she could hear several footsteps coming her way. _This sound pattern… there are at least 50 people coming down this street from north, and their steps match at a regular interval._ "Sorry Kai. They found me. I'll call again once I lose the pursuers."

She turned off her phone and faced the direction where they were coming from. She didn't try to pass as innocent. She didn't tried to intimidate her foes. She displayed no fear. With the exactly same face she used to talk casually on the phone, she prepared to face those who were after her life.

Just as Hinata suspected, several people wearing what looked like Anti-Skill uniforms surrounded her while she just stood still, waiting for them to complete their formation.

One of them took a step forward and announced. "You are under arrest for murder of an official and invasion of private property!"

"Ah. I see… so that's the excuse you are going for." Hinata recalled the incident where she killed a member of LIZARD to rescue Hishiro. "You are not fooling me though. You're not from Anti-Skill. And even if you were, I have no intention of following the rules if they get in my way."

The man dropped the role play and grabbed a knife from his pocket. He had no intention to kill her there in the open. All he wanted was to scare her so they could take her to the headquarters. But he didn't even had a chance to give a final warning. As soon he took another step… Hinata vanished from his view. "Wh-"

Everyone gasped in terror and surprise. The scene that suddenly unfolded right before their eyes was unbelievable. In an instant, the man's head had been cut off cleanly. The girl was apparently unarmed, so one might think that she had used the man's own knife to do it, but that wasn't the case. The knife was still clean on the hand of the lifeless body as it fell flat on the ground. Hinata, which had somehow appeared right behind where he was standing, held the head by the hair in her left hand. Her right hand was open, her fingers were stretched and tightly pressed against each other, as if to imitate the shape of a blade. But more importantly, her fingertips were stained in blood.

This was enough to make some of the fake officers panic. "What happened? What's her ability?"

"None." Answered Hinata with a cold tone. "I am a Level 0."

"D-...Don't mess with me!" Saying that, a man in the front line rose his gun and hammered the trigger.

One of his companions desperately tried to stop him. "Wait, don't shoot! You're gonna hit our men!" But he payed no heed. Hinata vanished from sight once again, and on the next moment, the gunshots stopped.

The gun was forcefully taken away from the man. No, the correct way to describe it is that the arm holding the gun wasn't where it was supposed to be anymore. "Wha- WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!? MY ARM!"

Just like before, Hinata appeared right beside the man, holding the limp limb. "You don't need to worry about it. You will be dead soon."

"Y-you little...! Attack her!" Obeying the command, the remaining members of the frontline charged at the girl at once. Hinata lowered her center of gravity and nimbly moved past the slash of their knives, in a way that they accidentally hit each other.

The second wave came right after. Instead of charging blindly, the group spread into three. The ones with melee weapons took the lead, but left enough openings for those with high precision machine guns to safely fire at her.

The result was the same though. She vanished from sight by running low at high speed and slashed all of them. Most died instantly from the single strike.

After the slaughter was over, a strong gust of wind threw her off balance. It came from the third group, composed by way younger boys and girls holding a riot shield in their hands. Hinata threw a single glance at them, her facial expression still unchanged. "Espers, huh? I thought LIZARD wouldn't recur to them." In an instant, Hinata was flanked by a barrage of bullets from one side and psychic powers from the other.

Her eyes quickly moved quickly, trying to measure where each projectile would go by capturing where all of them were she took off, running even faster than before. Instead of attacking directly, she went for the riot shields, trying to take them from the espers. At the speed of the action, no grip was strong enough to overpower her. Losing their only protection, several espers were struck by the bullets coming from the opposite direction.

The remaining ones got aware of Hinata's actions and changed their formation to stay away from the range of the guns. Without slowing down, she used the opening given by their movements to get behind them and attack from their back. That was all she needed to wipe them out in a matter of seconds.

From there, she took one of the riot shields and charged for the gunners. They didn't even had the chance to scream in terror as the girl passed by all of them, one by one, hitting a single vital part of their bodies and knocking them lifeless at a devastating speed.

In the end, she was the only one standing. Blood and mutilated limbs were splattered all over the place, while the girl breathing heavily with only her fingertips dirty of blood. "*pant* *pant* I should - *pant* - probably hide for a while..."

She was about to run away from the scene when even more of them arrived, surrounding her again. This time, there were no gunners, only kids about her age using weird tools that probably had to do with their abilities.

They started attacking almost immediately, forcing Hinata to use her insane dashes again. Like before, She was able to easily tore through the flesh of her new enemies, but...

ZOOOMMM

"Gasp!"

A circular saw past right next to her cheek, taking away a small portion of her hair. She flinched for half a second and that earned her something as heavy as a bowling ball hitting her back. She was sent rolling on the ground and used the momentum to get up to her stance again. _I'm slowing down... if this keeps up, my chances of survival will drop below 80%. Time for a change of tactics._

From somewhere inside her clothes, she took six small bluish balls that looked like marbles and threw them in the air. "HAA!" They exploded in sequence, filling the air with a thick whitish smoke.

"She's trying to run away! After h- h...huh? My body... feels..."

"Don't breathe that smoke! It's poisonous!" The boy was smart to notice that, but also too late. Many of them were already losing consciousness and falling on the ground.

In amidst the confusion, Hinata dashed through the poison and ran away, followed by a fourth of the original attacking force that managed to escape the deadly gas.

 **Part 2**

After walking for a minute or so, Index and Hishiro found a bench beneath a tree's shade where they finally managed to rest. Both of them were quiet for a while, not knowing how to strike the unavoidable conversation that was about to come. That is, until Asuka broke the silence with complaints. "This is so frustrating! If I could access either Orihime or Hikoboshi, I could get an answer instantly!"

Hishiro found it amusing to see her so pissed for once. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"Something between twenty minutes to half an hour, I guess… thankfully there aren't many people on the streets right now, so it's easier for the software to recognize him on the cameras."

"That's actually pretty fast, given how big Academy City is… just how high are your standards, Asuka?" She didn't answer and kept typing like crazy on the other side of the line. Not wanting the silence to fall again, Hishiro used the momentum to talk to Index.

"So… is it okay if I ask a few questions?"

She hesitated for a moment before answering. "It would be for the best if you just forget everything that happened and went back to your normal life. Do you still want to know?" She turned her face towards him and stared deep into his eyes. "Even though it might put your lives in danger, do you really want to know?"

He was taken aback by the contrast between the beauty of her green eyes and the danger hidden in the meaning of her words, but it wasn't enough for him to back off. "Maybe you didn't realised it yet, but our lives are far from normal. I could be sniped right here and now for a hundred thousand of reasons even if I say no."

"It almost sounds like you're proud of that, Shiro."

"I'm just used to it by now..."

Index was still a little worried, but started talking anyway. "Then… should I begin explaining what magic is?"

"Sure."

She then told them everything. About the power given to those born with no special talents. How it worked based on religious and mythological symbols. The dangers and temptations of the forbidden original grimoires. And how she was targeted for being the one chosen to carry the burden of having all these 103,000 books inside her mind. After a ten minutes monologue, the silence fell on them once again. Index became inquiet and asked forcefully. "You don't believe it?"

Hishiro took a deep breath before answering. "It sounds surreal… that something like this is being hidden from the general public during all this time. Then again, our little group knows our chunk of hidden secrets as well, so I can at least say it's not completely impossible." He rubbed his temples once more while trying to organize his thoughts. "I remember you saying that none of us could use magic. I assume it's because me and Asuka are both espers, but what about you? Didn't you manage to control that guy's attacks and turn them against him?"

"I'm a special case." She answered briefly, as if not wanting to go into details. "But even without the power of using magic, If I understand all the rules behind a spell, I can interfere with it up to some point. However, for some reason, I can't understand completely what composes Rüdiger's spells..."

"But aren't you supposed to hold all the magical knowledge in the world?"

"I know he used Egyptian magic as one of his bases, but he was going out of his way to hide most his symbols. This created several weak spots on his methods, but in return, I couldn't do as much as I should against him."

Asuka finally joined the conversation after all this time. "In other words, he was specifically prepared to fight against you… is that what you're trying to say?"

Index could simply hang her head in return. "Sorry..."

"How can you apologize? You're the victim here." Hishiro said smiling to her, but his mind was already elsewhere. _Something's off. If Academy City deliberately let her and her pursuers, that means the higher ups had the means to stop them from doing so, even if magic was involved. Yet, Rüdiger also got inside and attacked her, someone that is supposed to be considered a guest, according to the Grim Reaper… What's going on here?_

Before he could reach any conclusion, Asuka raised her voice with a clear tone of distress. "What? How could it… Index-chan, is it possible to revive someone using magic?"

The nun was taken by surprise by the sudden question, but answered with ease. "It is in theory, but the methods are vague and complicated. In all history, just a few claimed successfully do it, and there is little to no proof that it actually happened."

"Well, we have our proof now! The cameras picked Rüdiger's body getting up and walking away!"

 **Part 3**

Kamijou Touma didn't had the intention to get involved into anything this time.

All he wanted was to see what was going on. So even though he had a bad feeling, he was going to just glance at where those uniformed people were going (mostly out of curiosity) and then resume his long walk.

But Touma's misfortune wouldn't allow him to escape the darkness after getting so close to it.

And like a super magnet mercilessly pulling iron sand towards itself at an insane speed, the incarnation of this darkness and his misfortune crashed headfirst into him.

More precisely, Hinata tackled the poor boy's chest, sending the two of them rolling down the street until they finally came to a stop countless meters away. It all happened so fast that neither had the chance to scream or groan in pain.

When his vision finally stopped spinning, Touma blinked a few times and tried to understand the situation. He was lying on top of a girl that looked to be around 11 or 12 years old while her mini skirt was flipped over and the straps of her tank top were falling from her shoulders revealing enough skin to tell that she wasn't wearing any bra. Once he realized all of that, he quickly rolled away from her. "I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to!" He said all that while panicking, hanging between checking if she was hurt or looking away. In the end he just knelled and bowed all the way down until his forehead touched the hot asphalt.

Hinata was a little dizzy but managed to sit up on her own, making her top tank fall even further and displaying a few parts that were supposed to be hidden. She payed no heed to that and just calculated the distance between her current position to her pursuers, then confirmed that the person she had ran into was just a civilian. Only then she stood up and fixed her clothes. It was hard to tell if she didn't care about the shameful display of her body or if she was more worried about being caught by the enemy, as her facial expression was still the same. Finally, she talked to the boy who hadn't seen anything because he was still bowing to her. "If you value your life, then run and hide. I can't guarantee that they won't do anything to you." And so she resumed her escape.

It took just a few seconds for Touma to realize what she meant. He rose his head saw she was already quite ahead - and then felt a massive shockwave behind him. "Wha-what was that!? Oh, not good!" With a storm of psychic powers being fired towards his direction, he didn't even bother to question why they were attacking before following Hinata as fast as he could.

Most of the attacks flew past the boy and towards the girl ahead. Without looking back, she nimbly dodged most of them, but little by little scratches and other bruises were appearing on her skin, slightly slowing down her moves each time she got hit. When she was close to her limit, she failed to notice the sphere of purple light that was about to swallow her until it was too late to avoid it. She was already bracing herself for the impact when...

 _CRASH!_

The sphere exploded into thousands of small pieces glittering in the air like shattered glass, right in front of the boy holding his right hand high. _What happened?_ Her mind quickly jumped from this basic question to a more urgent matter. "What are you doing!? *pant* I told you to run away!"

"I am running!"

"They are after me! You won't escape if you run the same way as I, stupid!" Hinata expression finally changed as the situation grew dire by the second, but only for a few moments. Then it became even colder than before. She slowed down her pace to let Touma catch up to her, then she grabbed his wrist and pulled him along, turning left in the crossroad stopping there.

Confused, Touma asked. "What are you doing?"

"Quiet. They are coming."

When the pursuers finally made the turn, Hinata dashed ran at them (while dragging Touma who almost tripped due to the sudden acceleration) and slashed her way through the enemies, causing a rain of blood and confusion among them. Touma took several seconds to understand that she had actually attacked and injured them. "Y-you… What have you done?"

Hinata glanced at him with the corner of her eye. "We had no other option. They would've killed us otherwise."

"B-but… was it really necessary..." He couldn't finish the sentence. A massive fireball came flying their way. He broke free from Hinata's grasp and blocked it with his right hand, erasing it completely before starting running again.

 _Just as I thought. This person is…_ The girl reached a certain conclusion after witnessing the phenomenon a second time. "This way." She made a hard turn and headed for an iron bridge while Touma followed her and intercepted the attacks.

When they were about midway, more fake officers appeared from the other side of the bridge. It was too late to turn back and take another route. "Damn, we're trapped!" Touma looked from side to side, trying to find a way to escape. The only possibility that came to his mind was…

"... we're jumping off."

Hinata, who was prepared to face the enemy head on, tilted her head in puzzlement. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"It's our only chance to survive. C'mon!" He grabbed her hand and took off towards the edge. Hinata tried to resist at first, but made up her mind and decided to go along with it.

…

When cornered, a desperate prey will take unpredictable actions. She knew this behavior very well, and now she watched it happen in front of her eyes. Her target and an unknown boy had decided that it was better to jump off the bridge than to be captured by her unit. The uniformed boys and girls walked to the edge and the riverbed to try and find them. _Though they could pretty much be dead already._

After a little while, one of them came to report to her. " _Commander Yuna_ , They are nowhere to be seen. We managed to pinpoint where they fell, but from that point is quite difficult to track where they swan to. Or where the current dragged them to, if they are unconscious. However, we found this." He then handed over a dirty piece of blue cloth. "We believe that this belongs to the girl's clothes."

Yuna examined it for a moment end giggled sarcastically. "How cliched… cease your searches, they are not in the river."

The became flustered at her reaction. "What? But-"

"Can't you see? They left it behind on purpose to mislead us." She dropped it on the ground and stepped over it. "It's an insignificant attempt anyway. That bitch can't escape. Listen, I want a perimeter around the whole district. Units 3 and 7 will spread into five groups and patrol the area around this bridge. I'll call headquarters and try to get their exact coordinates, so you better be prepared to head out as soon as I get them. We have too many targets to deal with today, so I won't accept any delays. Got that?"

"U-understood!" The boy quickly left and passed down the orders to the others. Yuna sighed and picked her phone. Before making the call, she went to the picture gallery one more time, where photos of her sister were stored. Among them, there was a blurry picture of a brown haired boy. She tightened the grip on her phone and gritted her teeth, reminding herself of what she had to do no matter what.

…

"Stupid..."

"Can you stop it already? We need to figure out how to get out of here without being noticed."

Touma and Hinata had jumped of, but Hinata never intended to fall in the river. She held to the metal structure underneath the bridge and then used some kind of very thin wire to pick Touma who was falling for his death and pull him up. Now they were both sitting on a iron bar while facing each other. "I can't believe you were really planning to commit suicide."

"I never said that!"

"Then this means you are even more stupid. Even if you somehow survived, they would shoot at you the moment you raise your head to breath."

Touma couldn't think of anything to refute that so he stayed quiet and tried to think of a way to escape. Meanwhile Hinata payed close attention to the conversation going on above. "This sounds bad..."

"What now?"

"I was already suspecting it, but it seems like they have some way to precisely track us down. Given how they cornered on the bridge I think it may be a precognition type esper. One of my traps was already figured out as well."

Touma frowned deeply. His memories were gone, but his knowledge was still there. Precognition espers were extremely rare and there were a lot of mysteries and variations about their abilities. But if there was someone that could see the future to track them down, that meant they had to be completely out of the enemy's grasp by the time he or she used their ability, otherwise they had no way to escape. "We need to get as far away from them as possible, and fast. Do you think we can use those iron bars to reach the opposite edge of the bridge?"

Hinata measured the distance between them and the end of the bridge. They weren't that far in it when they jumped, so what Touma was suggesting was almost to cross from one margin of the river to the other using the metal structure. Her face showed her dissatisfaction towards the idea, but it was their best option at the moment - or maybe the only one. She carefully stood up started walking while maintaining her balance, and said to Touma while pointing to her arm which had the wire still connected to Touma's. "Do not get far from me. If one of us fall, we can use this to pull the other up."

 _Won't we be pulled down instead if that happened?_ Touma swallowed his words and followed her, trying not to think of what would happen if it came to that.

 **Between the Lines**

3:27 pm, Director's office at the highest floor of a certain building in District 7

The room looked like what one would expect of a CEO's office. Yet, the person that sat at the luxurious chair with his feet up on the table was a boy of 16 years old, messy clothes and spiky dark red hair. He talked over the expensive looking smartphone uninterestedly while paying attention at the many documents and pictures displaying on the three large monitors in front of him. "Yes, you were actually right, Tsuchimikado Motoharu. Two members of ITEM acted on their own that night, and while they were watching the events unfold, Frenda Seivelun stole the suitcase right under their noses. "

"Then everything he said was true… damn that false Kihara. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but I guess I owe him one-nya." Said the other male on the call.

"But it seems that the contents were already swapped when that happened. According to the logs… eeh, where were they…" With no rush, he lazily browsed through the windows until he found what he was looking for almost a whole minute later "Ah, here! It says that on that same night, one of the mainframes was accessed with an account that was supposed to be put on hold. It seems it belonged to someone who had retired recently… anyway, the point is that the actions of the two subjects in question leads us to believe that the contents of the case led them into hacking the system- or something like that. That's all speculation of the intelligence department though."

"And if that's true, what were they after?"

"Some security recordings on a certain dorm… do you know the one who caught fire last month? So, for some reason, all data about it was classified and not even I have access, so that's all I can give you."

Silence. Tsuchimikado got completely quiet after the mention of that dorm, and his reaction made the boy chuckle a little. "Hey! Hello hello, are you still there Motoharu?"

"... Yes, I am." His voice was cold and there was no sign left of his carefree attitude. "Sorry, but I have to go now. I think I have an idea of where this is going. Thanks for your help."

"We're here at your serv- uh, he turned it off already? Oh well, whatever." Grinning in amusement, he opened back the windows displaying the pictures of a certain red haired person wearing a stage magician outfit. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

* * *

 **Welcome back!  
**

 **First of all, I want to congratulate the anonymous Guest that managed to figure out what I had planned... Yup, Touma is up against Lizard, and there's a girl involved! (was it so obvious or are you just a genius? XP I guess you get why I couldn't answer you last chapter...) This combination led to a serious Kamachi-level fanservice... or so I hope. I'm afraid I might have gone a little too far there, hehehe...**

 **Index opened up the game to Hishiro and Asuka, and now that they are at the same page, they can face Rüdiger again with equal footing. I was going to give a heavy and detailed explanation of how magic works, but honestly, this had happened at least trice in the main series. Afraid of it being redundant, I ended up skipping it and going directly to the juicy part. I hope it didn't ended up being underwhelming because of that. In counterpart, this first explanation is far from enough to fill those two of everything that goes on in the magic side, so look forward for more revelations in the future.**

 **Next chapter, the second Seed of Doubt will make an appearance and join the fight against Rüdiger. I wonder if you can figure out who it is exactly... Anyway, thanks for your support, please leave your reviews and see you guys next time!**


	14. Unkillable

**III**

 **Chapter 14: The Magician That Cheats Death**

 **Unkillable**

 **Part 1**

"Whew… we did it somehow…"

It took 10 long minutes, but Touma and Hinata finally managed to reach the opposite riverbank using the bottom side of the bridge. After stretching his aching muscles, Touma picked his phone and started calling someone.

"What are you doing?" Asked Hinata with clear suspicion on her voice.

"Calling an ambulance for that boy you hurt."

"There is no need for that. He's already de-" For her own surprise, she hesitated and was unable to say what she intended at first "... probably in a hospital."

"Huh? How?"

"I knew it could end up like this… so I called an ambulance in advance."

"Really?" Touma tilted his head while Hinata continued expressionless as ever. "I thought they were the ones attacking you, but if you knew in advance-"

"It's a long story." She cut his line of thought and started walking away. "For now, you need to leave the district. If they regroup and surround all escape routes as they were planning, it'll be only a matter of time until they find you."

"Wait, what about you?"

Hinata stopped on her tracks for a moment. "I… still have a few things to take care off."

Touma frowned and protested. "No, I'm not leaving you behind. They were really trying to kill us! What if they catch you?"

"If I ran away now, your chances of escape would drop below 40%. I am the one they are after, so if they still believe I'm within their grasp, they'll leave you alone." She answered without looking at him. "Don't worry about me. Once I'm done, they'll have too much on their hands to come after me."

"Are you sure you will be fine?"

"They won't get me. Definitively." After saying that, she resumed walking intending to part ways.

Yet Touma didn't took her advice and run for his safety. Instead… "Why are you still following me?!"

"Hm? Didn't I told you that I wasn't going to leave without you?"

Hinata lost her temper and shouted at the boy. "I already said I'm going to be fine! So just go away! Or do you want to get hurt this badly?!"

"If you're confident that what you're doing is safe, that means I'm going to be safe if I'm with you, right?"

His argument was so ridiculous that she was left without words. And only now that she had nothing to say, she noticed how angry she was. Embarrassed, she turned away and tried to control her altered breath. "Good grief..."

"Anyway, shifting their attention away from us sounds like a better plan than trying to run and hide. If you know how to do it then count me in."

"... you're weird." Back to being completely expressionless, the girl started walking again without trying to stop Touma anymore. "Just do whatever you want."

 **Part 2**

That day was supposed to be just be calm day of shopping for them. They had no missions to take care of and a lot of cash to spend that their earned from their last job. Everything was going well, especially because the public transport system seemed to be having problems, meaning that there were almost no one to form lines in front of the counter. But all their expectations went down the drain when _HE_ appeared while they were checking some showcases.

Wearing that old school magician outfit, he baited the members of ITEM for a simple demonstration of a show that was supposedly going to happen that evening. No, the one that he baited was just Frenda, which for some unknown reason was deeply interested in trying to learn a trick or two from him. All the other three were a bit annoyed (except for Takitsubo, who was zoning out as usual) but since they had a lot time to spare, none voiced against it.

And then, with a simple flip of a card, Mugino and Takitsubo vanished in a turwill of red and black mist. Kinuhata was almost caught as well, but managed to react fast enough when the twister started swallowing her body and jumped backwards.

And thus a bizarre battle began.

Frenda only had a limited amount of explosives with her. Since ITEM usually was the one on offence instead the one being attacked, they weren't well prepared for surprise attacks like this one. She only carried a few for precaution and self deffence, just enough to let her escape and properly get more equipped for a real battle if it came to that. Sum that to the fact that this man that introduced himself as Rüdiger Nowell used some really illogical ways to attack, and the direction this battle was going should be obvious: the two girls were being pushed back.

Kinuhata attempted to charge in for the third time, but the result was the same as her last tries. One of the fire snakes got in front of her and exploded, sending her flying several meters back. "Kinuhata!" Frenda ran for her friend that stood up again. Even though her nitrogen armor protected her from the shockwave and the impact, the sheer heat of the blast was enough to damage her and she couldn't completely defend herself from that.

Rüdiger widened his eyes at the sight of the persistent girl coming at him again. "I must say, you are really sturdy for a young lady. Are all girls your age in Academy City that resilient?"

"You should super go see that for yourself." She answered while glaring sharply at him. "I'll just super use that chance to break your body the moment you turn your back to me."

"Uh, scary. I am glad that that I brought my cute little friends to watch my back for me then." After saying that, he waved his wand and the four remaining snakes started to move at once. Kinuhata clicked her tongue. She couldn't handle all of them together, so she ripped a light pole from the ground and swung it like a baseball bat at the incoming snakes. They exploded in unison, shattering the pole before the attack made contact.

The shockwave made Kinuhata take a step back, but that was it. Ther fragments of her improvised weapon flew at her direction but didn't even leave a scratch on her skin.

 _Now is my chance._ Rüdiger used all his snakes in the last attack so he was defenceless now. Kinuhata took the opportunity and charged at him again, aiming a punch to his face that would end the fight.

She didn't notice though there was a something different about him right now.

Actually, even if she had noticed, she wouldn't be able to understand the meaning behind it.

Rüdiger didn't even bother to try to dodge and simply crushed the object on his hand: a glass cup with a Jack of Hearts inside. Following the shattering noise, nearby hydrants blasted and a the high pressure water traveled in "S" shapes as they hit Kinuhata from various directions, sending her to the ground on the spot. It was really a lethal attack that would crush a normal person, though the magician figured that even that wouldn't be enough to get her killed.

While he was focused on restraining the girl's movements while wondering what could he do to defeat her, Frenda snuck behind him and spin kicked his back, breaking his concentration and freeing Kinuhata. "Gotcha!~*" The latter didn't even stopped to catch her breath and punched his face while he was out of balance, sending him flying back until he hit a parked car several meters away, crushing it completely. If it wasn't for the fact that the cars inside Academy City used electricity instead of regular fuel, the impact would've caused a large explosion and the man's dead body would became unrecognisable.

"*Pant*… damn. I forgot to super hold back. Now we can't even interrogate him..." Regretted Kinuhata as she looked down at her own fist.

"Yeah. In the end, that must have at least broken his neck… no, all of his bones actually." Frenda looked amazed as she looked back and forth between where their enemy had been a few moments ago and where he had landed, before turning to the other girl again. "Anyway, are you okay? That last attack was brutal."

"I'm drenched and a bit tired, but I'm super fine." She twisted the lower part of her hoodie while she speaked, trying to take out as much water as possible.

"But what was that? I thought his ability was pyrokinesis."

"Who knows? He did made Mugino and Takitsubo-san super disappear as well. His ability might have been some kind of teleportation."

"Something like _I had all my weapons hidden somewhere and just bought them to me when I needed them, making you misjudge my true power_ … is that right?"

Both girls shook in surprise at the sound of the man's voice. He should have died… and still, there he was. On foot and casually walking towards them as if nothing had happened. "That's quite smart. Unfortunately you're wrong."

"Tsk… you're super stubborn, aren't you?"

"Hehe, I can't exactly leave the stage when I just have made a girl all wet and excited."

"UUGH, this guy is getting on my nerves!" While shouting angrily, Frenda picked two of her bombs and was ready to throw them at any time. "Let's go Kinuhata! I'll blast him away for good this time!"

Rüdiger smirked and prepared to launch a counterattack for Frenda's bombs, but before she could do anything, something else struck his back.

"Whoops! Sorry, I thought you were dead. You know, usually corpses don't get hurt when we drop kick them. Trust me, I tried it befo- WHOA!"

The boy that had just attacked Rüdiger got hit exactly the same way by Kinuhata. "I'm super sorry. Corpses don't get hurt when we kick them right? I thought you were super dead."

"*COUGH, COUGH*! Wh- what the heck! What was that for?!"

"It was for nothing, zombie."

"I have a name and it's not zombie, dammit!" Said the boy angrily while he stood back up. "Seriously, that's what I get for trying to help?"

"Hishiro! Are you alright?!" A girl wearing a white robe that just turned the corner came running to him. Frenda and Kinuhata looked at her suspiciously.

"And who is she?"

"Oh… well… it's complicated." The boy scratched his head while trying to explain. "She's Index, the intruder we were going after the other day, but that's not the time to talk about this. He's on his feet again."

"Oh my, oh my… that was unexpected." Rüdiger wiped the dirt of his pants and took out several cards from his pocket. "I was going to let you rest for a while, Yamazaki-chan. Did you like the show that much? Do you want an encore?"

"Call me that again and I swear I'll open a hole on your chest three times bigger than the last one."

"Uh, that sounds painful. But not as much as this!" And then, the magician sent his cards flying in the air. "Wisps! Flares! Servants of the Sun! Strike the souls of the sinners and burn the them in the name of the great bird!"

The cards ignited and changed their course, spinning their way towards Hishiro, Frenda and Kinuhata. Index took a step forward fearlessly and intervened. "B-O-T-F-A-F-S-T-T-G! (blow off the flames and fall straight to the ground)"

One after another, the cards lost their fire and fell down. Hishiro, the only one that expected such result, pointed his revolver and fired all the bullets he had loaded. Only two of them were going to hit, but with the queen of hearts, Rüdiger made bubbles spawn around him and capture the bullets.

The two girls of ITEM were having a hard time trying to catch up with the battle, but weren't willing to stay behind. Frenda fired two missiles that forced the red haired man to fall back. Kinuhata walked up to Hishiro, who had just finished reloading his gun, and took the weapon from his hand. "You're super bad at shooting. Let me handle this."

Rüdiger was about to retaliate when Kinuhata mashed the trigger, forcing him to use his queen of hearts again. But this time, all of the bullets went straight to his head. Not all bubbles managed to defend him and he had to dodge some on his own. Still, one of them hit ripped a piece of his ear apart.

While hissing in pain, the older male waved his wand and created more snakes to buy some time. Index once again got in the way and made most of them self-destruct, but some crawled their way out of her sight and got dangerously close to their group.

Kinuhata jumped and landed on top of one, creating a small blast. It wasn't that strong, but she felt some burns of her legs. Frenda ran for the broken hydrants and forcefully changed the direction of the high pressure water that was still spraying out with wreckage caused by fighting. The jet wiped out the remaining snakes, clearing the path to Rüdiger once again.

Hishiro took the chance and used his cannon pistol on the deffenceles magician. Without mercy, he shot at his right leg, right eye and his chest. Rüdiger spat a large amount of blood before falling dead to the ground for the third time.

Breathing heavily, he wondered. "Was that enough?"

"Who knows? Kinuhata had trashed him earlier and he stood up right after."

"We probably should super destroy his body. I'm tired of seeing dead people walking around."

"Why are you looking at me like this?" Protested Hishiro.

Frenda walked close to the boy and whispered. "Don't mind her. We all thought you got killed by LIZARD the other day. In the end, she's just glad you're fine. She tried all she could to rescue you and everything"

"I can super hear you, you know. And I didn't do that at all."

Frenda stuck out her tongue playfully and prepared some bombs to blow up the remainings of their enemy. However, the man got up once again faster than she could get any closer to him. "Ouch… that was a close one. How cruel of you! I could have really died this time!"

"Tsk! And she was calling ME a zombie! Just what the fuck are you?!"

"Ufufufufufu… I could answer that, but why don't we let our little walking library have the spotlight and try to explain it for you all?" Rüdiger pointed at Index and everyone turned towards her at the same time.

The girl had a complex expression on her face. She not only didn't want to reveal about magic to even more people, but also… "I… I don't know. I can't… it makes no sense at all!"

"Oh, but that's a shame. I guess that's the limit of the Anglican Church's trump, huh?"

"Anglican… Church?" Frenda frowned. She probably was starting to piece things together, and seeing that, Rüdiger smiled even wider.

"That's right. Just like me, she is not a piece of the scientific side of this world. In other words-"

"Stop! Please just stop!" Begged the nun. "Stop bringing unrelated people into this!"

"But they are related, you know? Both the blonde and that boy over there. I just confirmed it earlier. Here, let me show you." And before anyone could react, the magician threw a burning card at Hishiro. On reflex, he activated his ability and…

 _SCREEEEEEEEEEEEENCH!_

The deafening noise echoed the moment the card touched the distorted field, forcing everyone to cover their ears. The colors around the field became messed, just like a negative photograph, and the whole thing exploded like a firework.

"See? He is an Exception, but not an accidental one. Both of them were made on purpose so Academy City could meddle on our affairs without taking the blame. There are several others on the City, and that's just the peel of the rotten fruit. See where I'm getting at?"

"T- That's... That's just impossible!" Index denied his words, not wanting to believe what he had said.

"Heh! Feel free delude yourself all you want! Your role here is just to show them the other side of the world, and it's already done!"

The girl widened her eyes and fell to her knees. Rüdiger ignored her and turned his attention to the other three. "You are the ones that need to see… what is being hidden from you, Seeds of Doubt."

Hishiro stomped and pointed the AMCP at him again, clearly annoyed. "That shit again?! What this even mean to begin with?"

"It means you were chosen. Among all the experiments with the Exceptions happening in this city, you were the ones chosen by Rázval. He believed that you were clever enough to understand the truth behind this circus called Academy City."

"Rázval…!" Frenda took a step back and held her head with both hands. That name triggered some memories that invaded her head at once without mercy. "Impossible… that means… that really happened? That wasn't just an hallucination caused by the weird gas?"

"Exception? Rázval? I don't understand nothing about what you said!" Hishiro shouted back at him, getting even more angry by the second.

Rüdiger seemed to be enjoying himself as he explained. "Don't worry about that. You see, I was-"

 _*ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM_

And it was gone. The man that should be standing just ten steps away from them was nowhere to be seen anymore. A massive beam wiped out everything on its way, and all that was left was smoke. Everyone had their jaws hanging, trying to understand what had just happened in front of their eyes.

"Ahh, that felt good. That's what you get for messing with a level 5! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Mu-Mugino!?" Frenda and Kinuhata said in unison, looking at their leader that still had her hand stretched out, followed by the silent Takitsubo.

"Unbelievable. Without trace… after all we tried and failed.. that dragon woman is no joke…" Hishiro said without thinking.

"What is it? Oh no, not that time stopping brat again..."

"I already told you that I don't stop the time!"

Frenda interrupted the useless discussion, half scared and half complaining. "Y-you know, Mugino… that guy you blew off just now… don't you think you… overdone a little bit?"

"Of course not! Do you have any idea of where he sent us? He HAD to die! And I didn't need to look for more than five seconds to know that you were fighting him. Just look at what happened to the stores! Geez…"

"Y-yeah, but… we were kinda in the middle of interrogating him and all…"

"I see, I see. My bad." She answered without even glancing at her teammate. She was too busy looking around to see if there were still any unharmed stores to resume their shopping trip, but unfortunately, all clerks and workers ran away during the the confusion. Frenda just sighed and hung her head, emitting an aura of "I give up".

Meanwhile, Index approached Hishiro from behind and whispered to his ear. "I'm sorry, but can you keep them distracted or a few minutes and then go after Touma for me? I need to look for _that man_."

"You don't think… he had survived that do you?"

"I'm not sure, but I can still feel a small concentration of telesma. I need to confirm if it's really over."

"In that case, wouldn't it be better if I-"

"Sorry, Shiro, but you don't have time to go on a date with her right now." Asuka interrupted from the communication device. "Okay, leave the boy to us. We are counting on you to clear this one up, Index-chan~*"

"Hm. Thank you!" And so, she dashed away, following the trace that only she could see.

"Aaaand we lost her again." complained Hishiro, unsatisfied with this development.

"We don't have much choice." Answered Asuka. "LIZARD made their move, and it seems that this Touma got dragged into it."

"Tsk. At the worst time possible." Stomping, Hishiro kept complaining. "Dammit, it's just one thing after the other."

Kinuhata noticed the boy's behaviour as the nun went away and approached, followed by the other members of ITEM. "Is it okay to let her go like this?"

"Yeah… for now, at least."

"So… don't you super own us a bunch of explanations?"

"Yes, you do!" Frenda demanded even more forcefully than Kinuhata. "How come you show up out of nowhere bringing our enemy with you?"

 _This isn't good. I can't simply tell them everything. I don't even have the time to do so._ Scratching his head, the boy tried to think a way out of this situation. "It's a long story. I would love to talk about it over some tea and snacks, but I'm in the middle of an important mission right now." And like that, he tried to step away from them, but Mugino and Takitsubo had already surrounded him. "If you don't leave me alone, I'm ready to fight my way out of this. Is that what you all want?"

"Shiro! Don't!" Asuka shouted, trying to hammer some sense into him, but he seemed serious about it. Both him and Mugino stared daggers into each other for almost half a minute before she clicked her tongue and stepped aside.

"I'm not in the mood for that. Disappear from my sight before I change my mind." All members of ITEM looked surprised while Hishiro ran away and got into a black car that had parked nearby at some point.

"Mugino... Why?" Takitsubo was the one to ask what everyone wanted to know.

"Being around that brat pisses me off. And as much I would love to burn som holes into him, I can't risk having those two getting even more hurt than they already are." Answered her while pointing to Frenda and Kinuhata. "He's a sneaky one, I bet he would aim for them first."

Kinuhata seemed a bit happy and troubled at the same time. "I appreciate the feeling, but I super had to give this back to him." She said while looking at the revolver she had took from him a while back, but no one besides her seemed to actually care. Specially Frenda, who was lost in thought while she blankly stared in the direction the nun had ran to.

"Seed of Doubt… Rázval… Why does it fells like I..."

…

"Wheew. I don't know what I would have done if she really started attacking me back there."

"Stupid Shiro. You have to think about your position before intimidating someone."

"What else could I have done?" The two of them kept arguing for a while as the car rode to the center of district 7.

"Ayway, Shiro… You did what I told you to do?"

"Yeah, as if I wouldn't. I just hope that Index won't notice the tracking device on her clothes."

 **Part 3**

The streets of the central area of District 7 were not full of people, but none of them were civilians. Wearing the familiar dark blue uniforms, they were the disguised LIZARD agents.

"That was fast."

"True. I was expecting them to take at least thrice the time to cover all this area."

Touma and Hinata were hidden on the top of a truck as they observed the situation. Using normal methods, it would be impossible to move or hide from so many enemies, but thanks to Hinata's wire, they were able to pass flying over their heads without much problem. The girl spotted a back alley that should be safe and warned. "We're going there next. Prepare yourself."

Touma nodded and got closer to her, allowing she to embrace him using one arm while the other stretched forward and shot the barely visible thread. Once she confirmed that it had it was firm enough and there was anyone facing that way, she jumped forward and let the wire take her where she wanted.

Touma couldn't help but wonder the material that the wire was made of, what she used to shot it, and more importantly, where she was hiding all of it while wearing those light clothes. Though his thoughts always went into a weird direction once it came to that and he had to force himself to stop without reaching any conclusion. All he managed to grasp is that there were something thin and transparent over her fingernails.

Once they landed, they found a single agent looking around inside the alley. It was a boy that seemed to be as young as Hinata, which made the whole uniform business ridiculous.

"Halt!" Said the boy not even as a warning, as he attacked immediately. He took several marbles and threw them in the air. They started to stick together one after the other like magnets, forming a ball about twice the size of a soccer ball. Touma took action right away and slapped the flying threat before it could complete, making all marbles fall on the floor. Without spearing a second, he slammed his fist on the boy's stomach, knocking him out right away.

"It's a weird feeling to notice that I'm getting good at doing this." Commented Touma as he carefully rest the boy's body on the ground while Hinata proceeded to tie him up.

"It's important to learn different things in life. You never know when you will need them."

"To be honest, I hope I never need to do this kind of thing again."

Things were going pretty well, but it's not like they didn't had any unwanted encounters. This was the fifth time they were forced to fight, but Touma managed to handle all confrontations so far with his mysterious ability. Even so, it was only a matter of time before one of them would be found, and they had to wrap everything up before that.

Also, Touma couldn't take his mind away from the fact that his body was reacting naturally to all of this, which would put any regular high school student to the edge. _Am I used to this kind of situation?_ He couldn't answer this question, as he had no memories from a month ago and beyond. _Come to think of it, I never got to know what had caused this. All I know is that I had helped Index in some way. Maybe I did got involved in some dangerous incidents in the past..._

As Hinata finished tying the boy, Touma shook those thoughts out of his head and asked. "I wonder how long it'll take to get there…"

She quickly checked the led screen of her wristwatch before answering. "We are almost there. Still we can't waste any time. If they really have a precognition esper with them, then they might already know what we are planning to do. In that case, we need to get there before they have a chance to prepare a countermeasure."

They were indeed close to the place they were heading to, but since they had to sneak, it was taking a frustrating amount of time to cover that short distance. After bumping into another 2 LIZARD soldiers, they finally managed to get to their goal.

"A radio tower?"

"Yes. A very particular one as well." Even though the girl affirmed that, it didn't looked like it had anything special. Except maybe for not being all that high as one would expect from a radio tower. However, this was an experimental facility meant to emit emergency signals to as many frequencies as possible. In cases of emergency, it would overlap any other signals and give the civilians the due instructions for each case. There were also one of these on Districts 1, 3, 15 and 22.

Even without knowing all these details, Touma felt that there was something wrong here. "Wasn't there supposed to be some kind of security around here?"

"Yes, I was expecting that." She answered while tilting her head. "This is unusual..."

"Do you think it's because of the transportation problem? Or maybe..."

"These people that are after us probably have something to do with it."

He swallowed dry in anticipation of what could happen inside that building. "So we better be ca-"

"To the ground. Now!" Hinata grabbed his arm and threw them both to the floor. Right after that, a torrent of fire flew past them and blasted on the wall of the tower. She then let go his arm and rolled to the side in order to see where the attack came from.

A girl with a long light brown hair was dashing towards them, firing 2 more torrents of fire. Touma caught on the situation quickly and protected himself with his right arm. Hinata used the same move to stand up and dodge the attack, getting momentum to meet the other girl's charge head on.

When they both were about to clash, Hinata lowered herself and increased her speed, vanishing from her enemy sight and prepared to slash her.

However…

"Heya!" The other girl stopped on her tracks and made the motion of a spinning kick, causing a spiral of fire around herself. Hinata was able to dodge on the last moment, but the sudden movement made her leg twist in the wrong way. Still, she kept herself on her feet with a blank expression on her face.

"So you're the sneaky rat I heard so much about. I gotta say I'm impressed by your agility."

"Thank you very much."

"You shouldn't be thanking me. Your life ended the moment you crossed my path."

At that moment, both Touma and Hinata felt something. A peculiar smell. It was… "*sniff* *sniff* Gasoline?"

The girl smirked upon hearing this and lighted a small ember on the top of her finger. Hinata tried to run away, but there was nothing she could do. In less than five seconds, a sea of flames enveloped everything and trapped her inside that inferno.

For Touma's luck (or the lack of it), the shockwave sent him flying safely away from the fire… and head first into a light pole. The impact made him dizzy for a moment, and when the pain started to fade, what he saw was Hinata struggling to break free from the other girl's grasp while she held some kind of small device with her other hand.

"Ah, I see, I see. Capacity Down, huh. This is getting quite popular among the Skill-Out lately. A tool worthy of a level 0." Said the girl while studying the device. "You were planning to use the radio tower to transmit this to all of our walkie talkies and send us all in disarray and- then what? What was your goal? What was it?!" Hinata was having a hard time breathing and couldn't answer that.

Touma stood up and stumbled towards the two girls, but unfortunately, several soldiers arrived before he could do anything.

"Commander Yuna, are you alright? We saw the blast from the distance-"

"Don't worry, that was my doing. But you arrived at a great time. I just captured the little doll that the Overseer was after, and it came with a bonus!" And the girl named Yuna pointed towards Touma. All the soldiers turned to him and, unlike the Espers they have been fighting so far, they were all holding guns.

"Oh no..." was everything he could say before running for his life as they mashed the trigger and pursued him.

 **Between the Lines**

The dark red haired boy in messy clothes looked at several trump cards scattered on the table. Choosing carefully, he picked one, examined it and added it to the deck on his hand. _The Grim Reaper must have all of it figure out by now. Stealing a password and giving it to someone else without using it yourself was pretty obvious after all._ He repeated the process over and over until a window splashed on the right monitor.

"Sir, we have something to report."

"Right, go on..." he answered without even glancing at it, paying full attention to his cards.

"We had already taken the entirety of 6 Districts, including the District 7 where those people you wanted were last seen. We might hear good results from the soon."

"Oh, that was sooner than I expected."

"Also, we found the abandoned STUDY's laboratory containing that specimen. However, it seems to be incomplete. According to the documents they hadn't disposed off yet, there are two other that are almost perfect, but they use someone else genetic code as a base. Wouldn't it be better if we had those in our possession?"

"No, that won't do… it's pointless if it isn't _her_." He frowned for once and stopped toying with the cards, thinking in what to do. "Besides, they are probably watching those two very closely. It wouldn't be easy to get our hands on one. Order them to bring her to our lab in District 10, and make sure to keep her stable at least."

"Sure, but you are aware that she's useless as is, right?"

"Yes… if we only had Kihara Gensei on our side right now, we would be able to patch her up in an instant. What are the odds of we getting custody over Kyama Harumi?"

"Zero, I'm afraid. She's currently working with Heaven Canceller to heal the test subjects of Gensei's research."

"What a waste of talent..." He said with a bitter smile on his face as he sun his chair and looked at some documents. "Seems like we have no other choice but to use our last resource. Once Yuna is done, tell her we found her dear professor and that I want to meet him in person."

"I'm sure she'll be pleased to hear that."

"And what about the chairman? Any moves yet?"

"No. Not even the Board of Directors nor his agents in the dark side are aware of the situation."

 _This is perfect for us, but it feels kinda sad to be ignored like that._ The boy kept those thoughts to himself and went back to his cards while the man kept talking.

"But it seems like ITEM had a confront with the intruder. No order was sent, so we assume it was their own initiative. There were two other people with them at the time, but we couldn't confirm what group they belong to. They are probably civilians."

"Hmm… this cannot keep happening."

"Should we deal with him?"

"No, he is too much for our troops right now. I'll find another way to solve this problem. You're dismissed for now."

"Yes, Overseer."

Once the call was over, the boy stood up and headed out of the room. "In the end, I'll have to leave my castle to get rid of him, huh? This gotta be the work of fate."

* * *

 **Well, damn. It's been several months since the last update. I got pretty busy and once everything was over I got pretty lazy… XP. In the end I didn't even stopped to read the latest Index volume released yet! This is tragic!**

 **Yeah, I hate when things gets busy. But this ends now, and as Rüdiger would say, the show must go on! Thanks to this hiatus, this arc has been going for longer than I expected, but 2 or 3 chapters should be enough to finish it. I hope I can keep you entertained all the way.**

 **This was a pretty straightforward and battle oriented chapter, so there are no smart remarks to be done this time… besides Mugino is back, and she's overpowered as always! Anyway, leave your reviews if you have the time to spare and see you again next time! (That is, once I finish reading the next volume)**


	15. Combustion

**III**

 **Chapter 15: The Flames of Vengeance**

 **Combustion**

He wanted to charge right in.

He wanted to rescue that person that had helped him so far.

But it was simply impossible for him. Surrounded by all these heavily armored adults, all he could do was run and pray for the best. For once, lady luck smiled for Kamijou Touma as he managed to turn on a corner without getting hit by the torrent of bullets coming at him.

"What are you all waiting for?! Go after him!" Ordered Yuna. "All witnesses must be eliminated!"

"Roger!" They all answered in unison before pursuing him.

"N… no… GHH!" Hinata struggled even harder as she watched the scene. Yuna was impressed by all the strength the girl was able to muster with her small body after taking that massive attack. Still, she stood no chance from this position. Yuna tightened her grip, making Hinata hiss in pain as she desperately tried to breath.

"You're a persistent one, huh? Can't you see that it's all over for you?" She threw Hinata to the ground, who barely managed to avoid landing head first on the asphalt. Only then Hinata noticed something important.

 _My body… is getting weaker… This is the same poison I used before! Could it be that she used the gasoline to disguise the smell of the poison as well?_ Her thoughts were interrupted when Yuna grabbed her by the hair and smashed her face on the ground. "Gah!"

"Yeah, that expression is more fitting for you." She repeated the attack 3 more times before kicking the younger girl on the ribs.

"AAAAAAAAGH!" Hinata rolled over several times until she struck the wall of the radio tower. The impact drained out her last strength and she could no longer move her body. Even keeping her eyes half open was difficult.

Touma gritted his teeth as he could only guess what was happening by the sounds while he ran. His plan was to circle around the building and take on Yuna from the other side. After turning the second corner, he was faced by two LIZARD espers. One shot something shiny at him and the other distorted the asphalt. He wasn't expecting that and only managed to block the projectile with his right hand. The irregularity on the ground made him trip and stumble over the two espers. The momentum allowed him to roll back to his feet and keep running. He turned on the third corner right before the gunfire resumed, hoping that the two he had left on the ground weren't hit.

 _If I manage to make the last turn before they catch up, they won't be able to use their guns. Otherwise they are going to hit their leader as well. Just a little more!_ And so, Touma ran at a crazy pace trying to outspeed his pursuers. They made the turn before he reached the the edge and started firing once again, but they couldn't aim properly while running and trying to hit a target from that distance.

The boy made the turn and focused his sight on Yuna, ready to finish this with a single swing of his fist. "Oooooooaaaah!"

The girl tried to brush him off with a large blaze, but it simply disappeared when it got into contact with his hand. "What the-!?" Out of options, she was forced to jump backwards, distancing herself from Hinata.

Touma glanced at the barely awoke girl and glared fiercely at Yuna once more, which returned the glare. "I tried to go easy on you, but that was a mistake. You no longer deserve a quick death!" She lit up her fists in fire and charged at him, but the boy defended using his right hand and the fire was gone once again.

She quickly understood that it would be useless to rely on her ability. Touma sent a punch at her but he was too slow. She sidestepped his fist and kicked his side three times before he even had a chance to recover from the missed strike.

He lost his balance but still managed to keep standing. _She is fast, but not that strong._ Touma rubbed his side and it was enough to stop the pain. Yuna took initiative this time and tackled him. He was able to dodge, but she followed up with a spin kick that hit the center of his body, sending him back. Before he could recover, she was already in front of him throwing countless blows to random parts of his body. Those weren't much on their own, but the the endless barrage of strikes were going to burden his body if this kept on for much longer.

Touma managed to surprise her by getting a hold of her arm and she came to a stop. He tried to use this opportunity to land a decisive blow, but she parried his fist using her free hand and headbutted his stomach. Unlike her other attacks, that one shook Touma's insides and sent him to the ground.

Yuna aimed a stomp for his face, but he pulled her ankle and she fell down as well. Touma kicked her far away while he stood up, giving him a slight advantage. While she was still trying to get up, he came running at her, ready to punch her for good this time. Her position made it impossible for her to dodge, so her only option was to defend herself using her arms.

"Khh!" Even though it wasn't a clean hit, she definitely felt the blow. Touma followed up with his other fist, but Yuna rolled backwards to avoid and get some distance between them. He thought she was going to use this chance to recover, but she charged right in the moment she got to her feet. He could do anything as he wasn't expecting an attack so soon. Yuna once again punched and kicked him nonstop, wearing his body little by little with fast strikes.

Touma tried to grab her again, but she didn't feel to the same trick and slapped his hand away, leaving him even more open. Her elbow landed on his unprotected face, sending him stumbling backwards slightly dizzy. She aimed a kick to his neck to end the fight at once. "You're done!"

Touma felt the incoming danger and threw himself as far away from her as he could. He landed on his back, making a good portion of his body hurt at once, but still tried to get to his feet as fast as possible. When he did, he found Yuna still standing where she were before, grinning madly at him. As he wondered why she wasn't attacking anymore, he noticed what was behind her. "Shit, I totally forgot about them!"

Yes, all those members of LIZARD were after his life a few minutes ago, and he only managed to keep them from firing at him was because they could hit her by accident. But he himself destroyed that pretext by escaping her kick, and now there was nothing he could do to avoid their bullets.

The girl made a signal for them to open fire, but they were interrupted by an unexpected sound.

A low pitched horn followed by a loud engine.

Approaching at a dangerous speed.

Everyone turned their heads towards the sound and saw the black car coming at full throttle directly at them. When their heads processed this information and they panicked at the incoming danger, it was already too late for most of them. The car ignored the spiky haired teenager and drifted over a dozen of LIZARD agents. Yuna just escaped unharmed because one of them pushed her out of the way.

The vehicle finally came to a stop and the back door opened. "That's what I call an epic entrance. Yup, totally satisfying. Good job." Commented the boy as he stepped out. The driver wearing sunglasses glanced at him and gave a thumbs up.

Touma recognized the person leaving the car on the spot. "Wait, you're…"

"Yo! seems like you could use a hand here."

Even Hinata, who was just a bit away from passing out, was surprised at this outcome. "Hishi...ro..."

Confused, Touma was unable to ask one of the many questions forming in his head. Hishiro didn't wait for him and dismissed all of his doubts at once. "We can talk later. Don't worry, Index is fine. Let's end this quickly and go back to her."

Yuna froze when she saw him and anger slowly filled her until he was no longer able to control it. "You… YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

"So it really was you after all, huh" The brown haired boy said while studying the screaming girl. "That's awkward."

Without thinking twice, she shot a massive amount of flames at him, enough to swallow both him and Touma, but Hishiro simply whipped his open palm around and the blaze came to an absolute stop. "Whoa, calm down for a moment! Aren't we supposed to exchange some smart mocks and act all cocky before jumping into action? I mean, this is a symbolic rematch. You're jumping way too many steps by using a 5 gauge super out of the blue like this."

"Look into my eyes and say if I care one bit for your messed rules?!"

"Yeaaah, you don't seem to at all..."

"OF COURSE I DON'T!" Her voice increased at each response, finally sounding like a mad beast instead of a teenage girl. "I'll rip your soul out of this foul body of yours with my bare hands for what you did to Yuko!"

"Oh, that's right! I was wondering about what had happened to that other girl. I was prepared to fight both of you, but seeing only the weaker one of the twins is kind of a bummer."

Yuna finally lost it. Her eyes were literally twitching and embers were spawning around her. "Ha… haha… ahahahahahahahaha! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're dead. Dead, dead, dead, DEAD! That's it, now you've done it! Let's see how long you can keep that insolence when I start to burn you out of existence!"

The brown haired boy smirked and got into his stance. "See? That's what I'm talking about. That was a good pre-battle dialogue. Still, you could have been a bit more creative. I'll give you a six out of ten."

Drowned in hatred, Yuna charged forward, intending to end the boy's life while he waited for her with open arms, grinning the whole time.

 **Part 2**

If the streets were empty that day, the back alleys were almost a sight from a post-apocalyptic setting movie. And in that space, the lonely girl in her white robe was completely out of place. Following the invisible trail that only she could notice, she made her way into the maze that was the gaps between the buildings of District 7.

"I knew it..." Lamented the nun after reaching her destination.

From the shadows lying in front of her, that person, who had his whole body destroyed at once, stood once again without a single scratch. "Oh, that's surprising. How did you found me? Finally discovered the truth behind my tricks?"

"I wish I had, but no." She answered while frowning, frustrated at her incapacity. "I could sense the telesma being gathered around here. You are the only one inside this city capable of doing that."

"Hahaha, I guess that was too much of a hint." He laughed it off like he had expected this development from the start. "Still, I wonder if I really am the only one. You really never once thought about the possibility of other magicians hiding within the walls of the science fortress? If even you who can't cast a single spell managed to get inside the city, why wouldn't others? I'm the _living_ proof that this not only can, but IS happening."

"If that's the case, then who? Who would want to break the balance between both sides?"

"Balance? AHAHAHAHAHA!" His reaction made her even more impatient. "The superficial peace we are living right now is nothing but a farce! You ask who? It is EVERYONE! You say _both sides_? Then you're way too naive thinking that there are only two sides in this world! Countless cabals, religions, companies, governments, and even organizations we are unaware of have noticed that this sad excuse of a balance is bound to crumble and have been preparing in the shadows for what is to come, because when it happens, those relying on this peace are going to be swallowed in the struggle for supremacy. And guess who is in the center of it all? Let me give you a hint: we are both standing in the middle of the stage at this very moment."

"You don't mean..."

"Yes, the science side! They set the game board called Academy City and sent an invitation to everyone willing to play! The heads of this city must be aware of all those intruders, and yet do nothing to stop them from coming - on the contrary, they welcome them. You are no different. The Anglican Church is rooting for Academy City to take the bait that is you, and Academy City is dying to take a bite of the of the Anglican Church and the magic side even though they know it is a trap. That is the sole reason they are fine with you being here!"

The words Hishiro had told her the day they met went through her mind once again: _By the way, you don't need to worry about the city security. Someone among the leaders seems to be on your side since we were called off yesterday._ It matched what Rüdiger was saying, but it wasn't enough to proof it. He probably was expecting to shock her after saying that, but she just kept staring, not letting her guard down for even a second. "I see… I should had figured that you wouldn't lose your cool with just that. After all, you are the girl that managed to keep her soul and mind mostly intact after reading 103,000 grimoires. Information alone is not enough to break you."

"That's not it." She took a step forward and confronted him. "I just have no reason to believe in anything you're saying. It is true that I was allowed to stay here, but that doesn't mean it is because of some conspiracy. All I know is that you've became an enemy of Academy City and of Necessarius, so you would have only to gain by confusing us and making us fight each other."

"Hehe, clever. Very clever of you." Rüdiger pulled a card and studied their surroundings before continuing. "However, it was really stupid for you to come alone knowing that I would be here. Why didn't you brought your friends?"

"I won't let them get involved anymore. This is a problem caused by the magic side, so it is the magic side's duty to solve it!"

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that, huh?" He then flipped the card on his fingers, revealing the Red Joker one more time. Index remembered clearly the cluster attack that her spell intercept was useless against. "Walnnar mumtir min alssama'i, tathir al'rad min fasadiha! (Fire rained from the skies, cleansing the land from its corruption!)"

 **Part 3**

Something was not right.

Previously, Hishiro managed to handle both Yuna and Yuko while his body was still recovering from the battle with the katana girl.

But now, he was being pushed back. Her movements were way faster than before. Her flames were stronger and covered a larger area. It was as if...

 _No, this can't be. The Level Upper shouldn't be effective anymore. Also, I never heard anyone getting their physical abilities being increased by that thing. But then… just what IS this? Every time she goes all out, I can barely hold the flare with my power… is she even going all out in the first place?_

At some point, Touma also joined the fight and even then, it wasn't enough. His fighting technique was amateurish at best, easily outdone by hers. His strange erasing power helped, but Yuna always managed to split them apart so she could take another attempt at reducing Hishiro to ashes.

And even though Hishiro landed a few hits on her, it was nothing compared to the amount he had taken. He was defending most of the time. All his attempts to trip her using his Null Inertia were in vain as he couldn't do the proper calculations in time because the girl simply wouldn't stop for a single second.

After another clash, Touma was sent to the ground one more time. Yuna ignited her fists in blue flames and attacked Hishiro with a barrage faster than he could dodge.

Taking a step beck, he crossed his arms to protect himself from the impacts and created a distorted field right in front of him to diminish the damage from the heat. Still, several burn marks were being left on this sleeves - and probably on his arms as well, he guessed. It was hard to differentiate the pain of burns from the pain of the blows he was taking by this point.

Touma got to his feet again and banished the fire by holding Yuna's right hand with his own. That earned him a kick to his leg, but it wasn't enough to send him down. Free from the merciless beating, Hishiro tackled her before she could attack Touma a second time. She sidestepped and kicked him as well. He tried to counterattack, but she avoided all of his moves, all the while hitting him with her own kicks whenever she got the chance.

When he couldn't keep up anymore, Touma stepped in again, but wasn't able to hit her as well. Following the pattern, she would take him out of balance and then attack Hishiro with her fire. If this kept up for any longer, they would end up losing due to the accumulated damage. _I need to stop her from doing it. It'll take a chunk of my stamina, but it's better than being hit by her fire punches again!_

"Hey, step back! NOW!" Both Touma and Yuna looked at Hishiro at the same time and shivered. They got away from each other just before it happened. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A massive distorted field appeared between the two males and their enemy. But unlike the ones Hishiro usually used, this one flickered and wobbled in midair like it was made of some kind floaty jelly. This was the result of the activation of his ability without proper aiming nor calculation. Using his visual focus alone, he could make it appear somewhere close to where he wanted it, but it wasn't very accurate. It was also very unstable, as a minimal change of the affected mass could make the whole thing collapse, thus making it almost useless since any movement from within or the outside would destroy the field before it could reduce anything's speed. The researchers classified this phenomena as "the closest an Esper could get to a RSPK Syndrome without fully losing control", triggered by sending one's own thoughts in disarray or by a paradox within the theory behind an Esper's power. Hishiro didn't know the specifics, but he knew the single good side of doing it: speed. He could activate it instantly and cause a huge spectacle, useful to distracting enemies for a few moments before it ends.

And so, his goal was achieved. Yuna stood there unsure of what to do as she watched on before the field disappeared a few seconds later. The price for using this came right after and Hishiro fell to his knees, all covered in sweat and gasping for air.

"A-are you okay?" Asked Touma.

"More or less… but don't count on me doing this again… it's impossible..."

"Still, she's tough… what can we do to turn things around?"

Hishiro answered and reached for his pocket. "I have a last resource, but… oh well, screw the rules." And then he found out the most terrifying truth of this whole situation: _My revolver… I never took it back, did I?_

"Shit, Asuka's going to kill me for this!" Without any other remaining option, he took the AMCP and aimed at Yuna.

The girl clicked her tongue and started to run. Touma panicked when he recognized the weapon and tried to stop him. "Wait- wait a second, this is-"

 _BANG!_

"DARN!" Hishiro hissed in pain as his ability failed to weaken the recoil due to his recklessness earlier. Touma covered his ears in reflex. Yuna flinched on her tracks. The gun was way louder than she was expecting and she knew what this meant. The hole and cracks left in the asphalt showed clearly that this was not any regular weapon.

 _BANG! BANG BANG!_

She forced herself to run again, but her movements seemed different from before. The fear of getting hit by the overkill bullets was probably getting to her.

 _BANG BANG!_

"Yikes!" Yuna shrieked when one of the bullets missed her by a hair… and almost hit Hinata, who was still resting by the wall of the radio tower. Even Hishiro was surprised at his own lack of good sense and unconsciously stopped pulling the trigger. Instead, he shouted to Touma at his side. "She's confused. Go now!"

The spiky haired boy was still surprised by the gun, but there was no time to complain about it. This was indeed their only chance. Clenching his fist, he dashed forward and aimed a punch at Yuna's face. "Ooooaaaaaaaahh!"

She didn't seen this one coming and finally got hit. Her whole body was sent spinning in the air and beautifully landed on her back a few moments later.

 _That guy… he fights like a thug, but I have to admit, that was one heck of a punch. And his ability is quite fearsome as well._ Hishiro thought while he checked his hurting wrist. "Ow! I usually forgot about this, but this thing recoil is no joke..."

Touma just stood there for a moment, catching his breath as the fatigue from the fight finally came to him. He knew it wasn't over yet, Yuna was still conscious and slowly sitting up. Her mad eyes and the trail of blood coming out of the corner of her mouth gave her quite the demonic look. "C-curse you… You ruined everything!"

"Sorry, but I wouldn't let you hurt her and get away with it!"

"SILENCE! I'm not talking to you, fool!" Touma was taken aback by the blunt retort. "You just had to hit the damn antenna with that toy!"

Both Touma and Hishiro had no idea what she was talking about at first, but looking up at the tower, it seemed that one of the antennas had a large hole caused by the cannon pistol. Hishiro laughed a little about it before replying. "I don't know what were you trying to do with this, but I guess luck isn't at your side. Or maybe it is? I mean, that bullet was supposed to go through your head, you know? If you don't want that happening to you, just give up and let us go. And by the way, that includes that girl over there. I'm sure you won't mind if we take her away, right?"

But Yuna barely paid any heed to what he said, as she was more concerned to what was being told to her via her earphone. "Hehe… Ahahahahaha! This isn't over yet!" And then, as if it was a cruel irony from the destiny, a black wagon came at full speed into the scene, almost running over the two boys who had to throw themselves to the ground in order to avoid it. Yuna stood up, grabbed Hinata by her arm and dragged the limp girl inside the vehicle. "And no, I won't give up that little doll so easily. This is the payback for what you did to Yuko!"

"Wait, stop!" But it was pointless. The wagon took off and left them behind. Hishiro wasted no time and went back inside the black car he used to get there, followed by Touma. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to rescue her. Isn't that what you were planning to do?"

They had no time to argue over this, so he didn't argue back. Besides, his official mission was to take Touma away from there safely, after all. Saving Hinata was his personal goal as a compensation for when she saved him. "Ah, whatever. Hey, follow that wagon!"

The driver answered by smashing the pedal, causing the engine to scream loud as the car blasted off after the other vehicle.

 **Between the Lines**

Even after having let off a bunch of steam by blowing up a whole street, Mugino was still annoyed that their shopping trip got ruined. She and the other members of ITEM decided to go back to the private saloon for now and contact their liaison to look up into the guy that had suddenly attacked them, but for some reason, their cell phones weren't working so they couldn't all anyone to pick them up. Also, the public transport system was still out, so they had no choice but to walk to the neighbor district.

"Still, this is super weird. I'm pretty sure my phone wasn't out of range while we were hopping before."

Takitsubo leaned closer to Kinuhata, who was toying with her cellphone. "Didn't it got damaged during the battle?"

"If that was all, mine would still be working..." Replied Mugino while walking a bit ahead of the two. "Either something happened to the antennas or this has something to do with that destroyed satellite."

"The former was a very close call-nyah!" All girls stopped on their tracks. The voice and the way of speech was familiar to them. They had met its owner not long ago: the infamous Grim Reaper of the dark side of the city. He and two other boys had approached them from behind at some point and no one had noticed, even though there was no crowd to hide and sneak within. "But in truth, someone is using a radio tower to jam the signal. Only unconventional wavelengths are usable right now. But don't worry, someone is already working to get this solved. Were you ladies going to call for a taxi? If you don't mind, we could give you a ride."

"Tsk… you again. Really, just how many will I have to blow up to get some peace today?" Spat Mugino as she simply eyed the hawaiian shirt boy from the corner of her eyes.

"I advise against recurring to force this time. I'm not going to let you out off the hook today-nyah." This time, his voice sounded more serious instead of his usual joking tone. "In case you didn't get yet, this is not an invitation. I don't need all of you, but the hoodie girl there and your blond friend aren't allowed to refuse. So you better tell me where she is."

But the girls didn't felt intimidated. First, they were confused at what he meant on his last sentence. And only then they noticed…

"Hey, where is Frenda?!"

"She was supposed to be following us… I think..."

"What got into that girl? Super disappearing out of nowhere is her new character trait now?"

…

Meanwhile, a few away streets away from the other members of ITEM, Frenda was running with all she got, intending to catch up with the white robe girl.

 _Seed of Doubt, Exception, Rázval… Everything has been a mess ever since the intruders broke into the city that night. If she really was among them then, in the end, I will get to the bottom the answers I'm looking for!_

* * *

 **Before anything else, I need to make a confession. I was originally intending to make Hishiro learn the meaning of friendly fire up there, if you know what I mean. Yes, I am a terrible person. Hinata is only safe (kinda) due to a my friend grabbing me by the collar and shouting "DON'T YOU DARE!" *laughs***

 **Even though this was yet another battle chapter, I managed to slip some important things there. For those who don't remember, the RSPK Syndrome is when an Esper loses control over his or her power, causing weird things to happen. I've been wanting to put this desperate tactic for quite some time now but wasn't sure if it was going to be well accepted (at least no one grabbed me by the collar for this yet** **, so that's a good sign?). Just to make it clear, that isn't limited to Hishiro, but I won't give any more details about it now. It is going to be important in future arcs, so hang in there for now.**

 **Next chapter: Index will go solo on Rüdiger, Touma and Hishiro will go into a hot pursuit after Yuna (I wonder if I missed a chance of adding Hamazura in this part?), and Tsuchimikado and Mugino will finally going to fight each other... no wait, that's not gonna happen. Sorry, but his role is limited to the Between the Lines this chapter, and no fighting is going to happen there. but in the future... hmm, who knows?**

 **I give my thanks for everyone supporting me, specially my friend that is helping with a lot of ideas and the guest that keeps finding typos where not even Aleister's Under Line is able to find. See you all next time!**


	16. Straight Flush

**It took a while, but it's finally here! Behold - the longer chapter I've ever made (so far)!**

* * *

 **III**

 **Chapter 16: The Cards Never Lie**

 **Straight_Flush**

 **Part 1**

Breathing heavily, Frenda made her way through the empty streets of District 7 as fast as she could. At first, she was completely lost. Her intention was to catch up with the nun and get some answers from her, even if by force. But even though she was sure she headed the same way, the silver haired girl was nowhere to be seen anymore. Since then, she was running randomly, trying to guess where she could have gone with no luck. That is, until...

"Another explosion… Could this be?"

As if guided by the heavens, a trail of smoke appeared on the sky and drew her attention. Heading to that direction, since she had no other clue, she soon realized the source of that smoke was no regular fire. Several explosions roared through the empty streets at irregular intervals as the smoke grew denser and denser. In an area with nothing but small stores and residential buildings, the cause of so many blasts could not be accidental. Following that line of thought, Frenda could only reach one conclusion. _No, this has to be a coincidence. In the end, Mugino erased him for good. There's no way he survived THAT._

Still, destiny soon proved she had been naive, given that he had suddenly resurrected twice in front of her.

After going deep into the gaps of the building, she found the source of the smoke and the person she was looking for.

"I can't believe it's him… what on earth is that guy?" She wondered as she kept herself hidden in the corner, simply watching the situation for now.

The girl in white robes that Hishiro had called Index was facing Rüdiger wearing a serious face. Her clothes were drenched, she had some small scratches on her face and her hands, and there was fire snakes all over the place, but she didn't looked worried at all. In fact, she was more busy trying to capture each and every movement the magician was making instead of watching out for the attacks that could come from any direction at any moment.

Rüdiger, on the other hand, seemed to be having as much fun as a child playing with a new toy. He walked from side to side, doing a lot of gestures for no reason as if he was teasing the younger girl. At some point, he hid one of his hands behind his back and drew small circles with his finger. Three random snakes responded instantly and jumped towards the nun at the same time.

Before Frenda could even think of interfering, Index whispered something under her breath and took a single step to the left. The snakes merged together and exploded into countless fireballs that, when in contact with the other snakes, created the exact same phenomena. The result was a splendid chain reaction that transformed the alley into a sea of heat and flames, forcing Frenda to protect her face and take a few steps back. Once it was over, the whole area was severely burnt - save for the spot where Index was standing and behind the water wall that had appeared in front of Rüdiger at some point…

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Bravo! Truly amazing!" The red haired male applauded as he laughed in joy. "And I thought that I had got you this time!"

"Are you making fun of me? You should've known by now that it's pointless to hide the signals if I can sense the mana flowing when you give the command."

"Of course not. Holding back against you would be suicide. Not that it would matter anyway, don't you agree?" Index narrowed her eyes while he laughed alone at his joke. "I was preparing a multistepped spell, but you ruined it all. I never thought you would imitate my Divine Judgment and use it against me."

"I can only do that because your spells are too loose. You distort the meanings of your symbols so much that it's easy change the interpretation and transform it into something else entirely. It's really surprising that it doesn't go out of control the moment you cast it."

"Oh-ho, starting to figure things out, hmm? Took you long enough." He mocked as he got closer to her and crouched down to match her height. "I wonder what else you already know."

Index bit her lip for a moment before answering. "You're using golden style rituals and Egyptian symbols in an abstract way to archive the results you want. Also, there must have some kind of limit to your resurrection spell if you are bothering to defend from lethal attacks."

He sighed and shrugged while shaking his head in disappointment. "Is that all? I was honestly hoping for a little more."

"You are really making fun of me, aren't you?" The nun was trying to keep her calm, but she seemed to be at her limit. Not because of his mockery, but because his behavior made no sense. _What does he have to gain from me understanding his techniques? Can't he understand that that would mean his defeat? Or is there a trap hidden somewhere behind all of this?_

Rüdiger didn't answer. Instead, he simply stood up, turned around and slowly walked away from her while holding the edge of his toplet. For a fraction of a second, Index saw the symbol of the hearts suit on the card he was trying to hide. "Both the god and his priests hold the fate of the sick and the injured on their hands. In the left lies the knife that cuts the threads pulling their souls towards the depths of the river of the dead!"

"What?!" Scream in surprise was all Index could do. She remembered that spell pretty well. As Rüdiger glanced at her from over his shoulders with a malicious smirk on his face, a huge serpent made of water begun to take form around him, swirling in an wide spiral movement as it made it way upwards. A single drop of that water - or rather, poison - could be fatal. Index was forced to step away from the deadly entity until her back was touching the wall.

"If you think I'm still playing around, then let me show you how serious I actually am!" And with that, the serpent came crashing down at the nun. She threw herself out of the way and once again whispered something that sounded like random letters. As a result, the serpent head twisted upwards and she crashed on the wall of the building, splattering water all over the place.

Out of sheer luck, Frenda got out of the way to avoid getting wet, not knowing what would happen to her if the liquid had touched her skin. Index had to roll on the ground and pray that none of it would fall on her. Rüdiger, on the other hand, opened his arms as if he was welcoming the rain of death, but ended up not getting hit by any of it. "Oh my, this must be my lucky day!"

Index slowly got up, half annoyed at his attitude and half worried if she had managed to escape, checking on her own body. "Y-you did something to make the spell harmless to you, didn't you? It would be suicide to use it on such a small space without any safeguards."

"Why would I bother? I can fix my body as many times as I want, after all." He answered while rubbing his left wrist.

"Liar… You're saying that just because I am close to uncover your trick." The magician didn't confirm nor deny any of it. Index gave up on pursuing the subject and focused on the clues she had on hand. "But what's with that spell? I commanded it to fly directly upwards to the top of the building, but instead, it moved in an unnecessary large arc and hit the wall. The same thing happened the first time you used it. How-"

"How am I messing with your undefeatable spell interception - is that what you want to know? Why don't you ask that to yourself, oh almighty library of all magic?" He mocked her in an aggressive tone for the first time, getting her off guard.

Frenda didn't know what to do while watching it all with her jaw literally hanging. "In the end, I can't simply step into this. Those two are too unpredictable. Kinuhata managed to survive those insane attacks, but if I got a single hit… no, a direct confrontation is out of question. I need something to give me an absolute advantage before I can-"

And on that single moment of distraction, Rüdiger turned his head towards her. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Frenda could hide behind the wall again. Her body started shaking and she broke into a cold sweat. _Noooooooo! He saw me! He totally saw me!_

The magician let out a chuckle before he turned his attention back to Index. "You, people from the church, are so full of yourselves. It's laughable that you are considered to be something so absolute within the magicians when you can't even see through someone like me. It is just as Myrin suspected: your knowledge is limited by the boundaries set by the grimoires you read. If some new set rules were to be made, you would be completely clueless. I guess that's why the chairman of this city does not fear you."

"New set of rules? What are-"

"Ah, that's it. I'm done with you. I still have a few business to take care of with the seeds before I can close the curtains of the show, so could you kindly leave the stage now?" And with a swift movement, he took off his toplet and bowed down, as if thanking an imaginary audience. After the exaggerated gesture, a storm of white pigeons came out of his toplet and surrounded him.

Index had to cover her face with her arms to protect herself from the feathers and sharp claws that had suddenly assaulted her. Once it was over, Rüdiger was nowhere to be seen anymore. "He… didn't used magic just now… so how?" She looked around but it was useless. She was surrounded by buildings and there were 3 passageways leading outside of the alley (one of which Frenda was still using to hide herself). He had used some cheap trick to distract her and run away by using one of these.

While Index was at a loss, Frenda turned around and started to run. _That girl may have some strange powers, but in the end, she is just a naive little girl for falling for such a trick. That man knew I was here, and still ran away while mentioning that he was after the seeds - probably referring to the seeds of doubt, which basically means me and that boy. I guess he couldn't do anything to me right now because I was too close, so he must be going after him!_ Setting an overall plan in mind, she dashed out of the alley, too busy to notice that her footsteps were heard by Index.

 **Part 2**

At this day and age, the inhabitants of Academy City could proudly say that combustion engines are a thing from the past. Being approximately 30 years ahead of the rest of the world in technological advancement, all vehicles within the city uses electricity instead of fossil fuels, making them silent and harmless to the environment. Also, their performance are top notch, to the point that a regular driver is unable to tell the difference between the regular vehicles from an equivalent model of Academy City.

However, this goes only for regular drivers. There were extremely minor advantages that combustion engines had over electric ones that specialists would notice, and this applied even to Academy City models. Of course, the scientists and engineers technically could go out of their way to solve those issues, but given that they were irrelevant for the everyday use of the vehicles, no one believed that the cost of doing so would be worth it.

Except those in the dark side of the city, who didn't mind in breaking the rules and decided to fix this with the cheapest option available. And thus, the modified hybrid cars were born. Those worked like the regular electric cars until the secondary engine is intentionally ignited via a button hidden behind the steering wheel. With both working together, the acceleration, top speed and shift time are increased insanely at the cost of being ridiculously loud.

And so, the two vehicles running at dangerous speeds on the streets of District 7 were the best example of why those were used by the dark side - and also why they were forbidden for civilian use.

Kamijou Touma, the regular high school boy that was experiencing the feeling of going from at 0 Km/h to 150 Km/h in a matter of few seconds for the first time in his life, was glued to the rear sit due to the G forces holding his body. "H-hey, hold on! Aren't we going way too fast all of a sudden!? We gonna hit something like this!"

"Go say that to them, not to us." Answered Hishiro from the front seat as he opened the window and leaned towards the gap, not minding the violent air current flowing through it. "That's insane… they are increasing the distance. Is that thing equipped with booster rockets or something? We gonna miss them at this rate!"

The driver adjusted the position of his sunglasses and tightened the grip on the steering wheel. After a weird noise, the car accelerated even further, possibly going beyond 200 Km/h, making Touma panic even further. "I'm gonna die! I'm seriously gonna die!"

"Don't be so dramatic. The chances of we hitting something is near zero. See? There is no traffic at all." For Hishiro, who was from the dark side and was used to this sort of situation, it was impossible to understand the fear that a normal person would have of hitting a still object on the street, such as a light pole or a wall. "Anyway, what did you and Hinata have done to make that fire head so heated up?"

"Wasn't that your fault?" Retorted the spiky haired boy with teary eyes (it was impossible to determine if the phenomenon had happened because of fear or if it was just his body reacting to the wind coming from the window). "When I met your friend, she was already being pursued. So we ran away and tried to make a distraction by doing something with the radio tower, and then that girl appeared. But she wasn't as mad until you appeared and started provoking her!"

"Oh, is that so?" He said it nonchalantly, as if he had nothing to do with it. _Still… she was almost exploding when I accidentally damaged the antenna… what was LIZARD trying to do with that tower? Hinata must know something if she was targeting it from the beginning._

"Don't give me that!" Continued Touma, unsatisfied with the other boy's reaction. "You did something to her sister, didn't you? And what with you carrying this gun as if it's nothing?"

"Well… the former is a long story, and the latter is even longer and way more complicated." Hishiro scratched the back of his head as he thought of a way to explain without creating even more trouble. "There is the possibility of her sister being dead because of me."

"What?!"

"From what you've seen today, you probably have an idea already, but this city isn't as peaceful as the higher ups make it seems." Hearing that, Touma looked downwards and placed his right hand on his head. "It was a kill or die situation. They worked for a shady organization, one of many that exists beneath the carpet everywhere in the world. The three of us were fighting in a building set to blow up. And in order to survive I… _immobilized_ them and ran away." He made a stop after saying a half truth to increase the emotional effect. "I had no other option. It seems like Yuna managed to get out of that alive somehow and joined another shady organization."

"And she's after your friend for revenge?"

"Who knows? There's probably more to it than just that. At any rate, I'm carrying weapons just in case something like that happens. I do have special permission to do so, so don't worry." The brown haired boy shrugged and started to mess around with the glove box in front of him.

"Oh, this one looks nice. Even though my power is back to normal, I can't use it at this speed, so I rather avoid using the AMCP. Do you mind if I borrow this one?" He asked the driver, who answered with a sinister smirk and a thumbs up.

What Hishiro had in hand was… A grenade launcher? No, it looked like a small rocket launcher. Touma eyes went wide when he saw the destructive weapon. "You have permission even for those?"

"I- huh? Honestly, I don't know. Doesn't a permission works for every type of weapon? Well, whatever. I'm already breaking the rules by acting on my personal matters, so let's not mind these small details. Here we go!" And with that, he leaned outside, aimed the mini bazooka look alike at the black wagon and fired without thinking twice. (Just for the record, there were different types of licenses for use of weapons in Academy City, but Hishiro had no way to know that since no one from the dark side had one of them.)

With an unexpectedly quiet noise and no recoil at all, the rocket flew forward tracing a trail of smoke in its way and hit the lower right part of the vehicle. The explosion caused by it was underwhelming, but the noise and damage were not. The sound was strong enough to make the whole car vibrate, and the bumper of the wagon plus the right rear light and part of the bodywork were completely ripped off, even though it was an armored vehicle. "Phew, that was satisfying as heck. Get us a little closer and I'll finish this up with another shot!"

"Hold on, won't you end up killing everyone inside if you do it from closer?"

"Nah, I'm not trying to blow the whole thing up. If I manage to damage one of the front wheels-"

His words were cut short by the loud noise that came from the windshield. Something had hit it. And it was strong enough to make cracks appear all over the reinforced glass surface. Soon after, similar noises could be heard from all around the car.

Of course, their enemies wouldn't simply stay still after the explosion. Narrowing his eyes, Hishiro could see someone leaning out of the wagon's window aiming a large rifle at them. And just from first glance he could tell which kind of rifle it was. "Oh crap... they have Metal Eaters with them!"

Even though the rocket launcher had more destructive power, the Metal Eater had a full auto rapid fire function. The anti-tank bullets were quite a thing on their own, but when fired at such high ratio, it was impossible to stand against it. Hishiro thought they had the advantage by being able to defeat their enemy with just two shots, but he had actually made a mistake by not doing so in the very first. As of now, their loss was pretty much granted.

As the deadly bullets continued raining on them, the rearview mirrors, the roof and even one of the doors in the back were completely destroyed and fell apart. Seeing what had happened just beside him, Touma clung himself to the door that was still on its place to avoid falling on the road while mumbling "Such misfortune, such misfortune, such misfortune, such misfortune, such misfortuuuuuuneeeee!"

Hishiro clicked his tongue and stood up, making use of the new convertible function given to the car and aimed his weapon. It was way easier to shoot from there instead from the window, as he could aim in a straight line. But that was proven to not be a good idea. The moment he pulled the trigger...

 _Clank_

"Dammit!"

A bullet landed a scratch hit on the side of the rocket launcher, changing the aim of his shot and knocking the weapon out of his hands (and out of the vehicle altogether).

They didn't even seen where the rocket had flew to nor hear the explosion that must have happened far behind. It was probably a good thing that the streets were empty, otherwise this stray shot would most likely end in a tragedy.

The boy didn't even had the time to lament over the loss of his weapon. Several silver spherical objects rolled from below the wagon. "Mobile land mines! Watch out!"

Right after announcing the incoming danger, the mines starting exploding one after the other. The sunglasses driver was forced to ride in zigzag to avoid a direct hit, but even then the car was pushed by the shockwaves and took damage.

The fierce assault didn't ended there. Someone else leaned outside from another window, and he had no weapon on his hands. Which could only mean… "Oh no."

Purplish light dots appeared around that person's head and shot forward towards the trashed car. More specifically, towards the windshield. They passed through the glass and rained at the passengers.

Hishiro had to crunch down to avoid the attack. His seat got several burnt marks were the light dots had hit.

Touma simply waved his hand all around the moment he noticed what was going on, but one hand wasn't enough to get rid of all of them, forcing him to crunch down as well.

All the driver could do was lean his body from side to side, trying to stay out of the way. Still, one of the lights hit his sunglasses' lens, but it seems that it had caused no damage.

 _It had no problem going through the glass, but the sunglasses stopped it… were those lights a concentration of ultra violet rays?_ Before the next wave of attacks came, Hishiro took something else from the glove box: it was a case containing another weapon. However, he simply set the weapon aside and held the case in hands. When the barrage of light dots rained on them again, he opened the case and made sure that some of them struck the inner part of the lid.

The reason for this action was simple: for some reason, there was a mirror on that part of the lid. If his theory was correct, he could redirect the light right back at the attacker. However, light refraction isn't so simple. The moment the light touched the mirror, it indeed changed direction, but then became weaker and disappeared after a few moments.

Hishiro didn't even had time to wonder why his plan had failed, as the wagon suddenly took a sharp turn to the left that seemed impossible to do at this speed. The driver was too slow to react, completely missing the entrance to the street they had gone. "Shit, this is not good! Turn on the next street, quick!"

It took mere seconds for them to reach the next crossroad. The (barely recognizable) black car drifted its way into the street without reducing its speed, almost throwing Touma out of the door gap. "Eh- WHOOAAAAAAAA!?"

"Damn, we're gonna miss them at this rate." Annoyed, the brown haired boy took out his communication device. "Asuka, come in! We need your support here!"

"Geez, why are you screaming like this Shiro? I can hear you loud and clear."

"Listen, LIZARD has captured Hinata and they are on the run right now."

"Huh? Why? What they want with Hina-chan?"

"I have no idea, but it seems like she was messing with their business. We have lost visual contact with their wagon."

"Okay, let me locate where you are before I can track them. Gimme a sec." And so, 20 seconds went by while everyone stared at the communication device waiting for an answer. Hishiro looked impatient all the way. Touma was staring curiously, probably wondering who Asuka was, but did not dare to ask. Even the driver was looking at it while he kept his foot on the pedal.

And when she finally talked again…

"This is bad! You need to stop! Stop the vehicle right now! If you keep going this way-" Before Asuka could finish, the driver stepped on the breaks and her voice was overlapped by the loud noise of the tires scraping on the asphalt. The two boys (that were not using seat belts) fell from their seats and bounced around inside the vehicle, but luckily weren't thrown flying out of it.

As the car was finally coming to a stop, Hishiro was about to complain when he noticed something a little far ahead on the street. "This is..."

"Ah-" It was a girl with silver hair and green eyes wearing white robes. She looked surprised by the car suddenly coming in her direction and froze in place. For her luck, It stopped just a few centimeters before hitting her.

"Eh… Index!?"

"Touma!" The girl simply ignored what she was doing and the fact that she was almost run over, and ran to hug her friend that she hadn't seen every since the first mad battle of the day had begun.

 _This is bad. Really bad._ Hishiro couldn't help but think this as he left the car right after Touma. He had not expected to run into Index now out of all times, and her mere presence in this place, which was on the complete opposite direction she had took off earlier, felt like a bad omen.

Without noticing his concerns, the nun kept her attention locked on the spiky haired boy. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you? Where were you all this time?"

"I'm fine, don't worry. Well, a lot of things happened but I'm fine." He answered with a smile of relief on his face. "What about you?"

"I was scared at first, but Hishiro helped me looking for you during all this time."

 _Okay, calm down. First of all I need to confirm what is going on here._ The boy in question took a step closer to the two, picking their attention for a moment. He exchanged glances with them one after the other and their reaction was exactly the same: a worried look while shaking their heads. _Just as I thought. They don't want the other getting involved not knowing that they are fighting a battle of their own, nor that I'm split in the very middle of it all. This is the worst case scenario._ Letting out a heavy sigh, he reached out for his communication device and plugged the earphone while the other two were still talking. "So… what should I do now, Asuka? I'm totally at a loss here."

Just like him, all she did was sigh. This was indeed the worst situation they could have run into. Asuka probably noticed they were about to run into her due to the tracker Hishiro left stuck on her clothes and tried to stop them, but it was already too late.

The original plan was to rescue Touma, leave him somewhere far and safe, meet up with Index to see if Rüdiger was still around, wrap up the battle if yes, and only then reuniting the two. However, Hinata was a variable they did not know to be part of equation and now all of that fell apart. Hishiro obviously couldn't settle both problems at the same time and, unfortunately, New Pointer had no spare members to send. Even Asuka's last resort was compromised, since she was the victim this time.

They would have to choose. Hishiro could stick to his current goal and go fight LIZARD along with Touma to rescue Hinata, at the risk of missing the opportunity of getting valuable information out of Rüdiger, or worse, having Index die fighting him and having him go loose rampaging on the city. Or he would follow Index to face Rüdiger, at the risk of Hinata dying, or worse, Touma dying at LIZARD hands, which could or not lead to losing Index's trust and thus losing their only chance to understand what they were stepping into.

Of course, there was a chance of someone else stepping into the situation to avoid Index's and Touma's deaths, since the orders the higher ups (or at least, part of them) have been giving the last weeks suggested that both their safety was a priority, but even that was a wishful thinking at the moment.

After thinking for quite some time, Asuka finally spoke. "If Seira-chan were to decide, she would probably ask you to go after LIZARD. I also really want to rescue Hina-chan, but… we just can't. All points towards that magician still being alive, and out of all people now, that nun is the most valuable to us. Also, who else could possibly fight off that maniac besides you? No one in this city probably knows that this whole magic thing exists."

"So that's how it is, huh..." Up to some point, Hishiro actually agreed with her opinion, but this still left a bitter taste on his mouth. "Seems like I won't be paying my life debit with Hinata any time soon."

"Sorry, but it can't be helped. I'm sure she wouldn't blame you if she understood the situation. Nobody can. There's a limit on how much a single person can accomplish, and you've been hitting that limit for quite some time." The two of them kept silent for a few seconds before she continued. "Don't worry. I'm sure she will be alright. This Touma guy is tougher than he looks. I'll also try all I can to mobilize other teams to stop LIZARD. Hina-chan will be safe by the end of the day even if I have to call Anti-Skill and Judgment."

The boy couldn't help but chuckle at her determination. "Yeah, I'm sure you're crazy enough to do it."

"You can bet I am!" She said confidently with her joking tone, which sent some warning signals to Hishiro's brain. "So, forget allllll about this and make sure to enjoy your date with Index-tan, got it?"

"Tsk. There you go again. Why do you have to ruin everything whenever you start sounding cool for a second?"

"Don't give me that, Shiro. You were the one looking all jealous when she hugged him. This is your chance to score some points-"

"Just shut the heck up. I need to concentrate here. It won't be easy to convince them to booth to act just like we need them to." And like that, he turned off the device before she had a chance to reply.

Hishiro turned his attention back to Touma and Index. It seems they were troubled and didn't what to say. He had to make an opportunity to talk to each of them separately to make things go smooth. _The question is how. Think, think, think…_ While his mind was at full throttle, his eyes landed on the damaged car and the driver.

"Hey, there's a wallet lying on the back seat here. Is it yours by any chance?"

"Huh? Wait, let me check." Touma started tapping his pockets one by one when he noticed the other boy was winking. Understanding what it meant, he scratched his head and walked towards him. "Ah, i-it might be! Ahahaha, how careless of me. It must be the misfortune..."

He didn't know, however, that the wink was also a signal for Index, which nodded and obediently waited there, trusting in that Hishiro could deal with the situation.

Once Touma got close enough, Hishiro put on a serious face and whispered. "Sorry, but I won't be able to continue. Taking you out of danger was a priority, but above all else, I can't let that girl get involved at all costs. If you know her circumstances, you probably can understand why, right?"

Touma nodded, looking slightly suspicious. "Just how much do you know about her? Who are you anyway?"

"Like I said, it's complicated. We don't have the time for that now." He didn't let the other boy pursue the topic and kept talking. "Listen, I need to take her out of the district for now, and I can't do it by car. It would attract the attention of those people. It would be for the best if we kept her hidden until night falls and this whole mess is over. For that to happen, I need you to serve as a diversion. You don't even need to keep going after them. As long as you are on the car going from place to place, it would be enough."

"Okay, I got it." Touma answered with a determined tone. "But I'm not going to hide. I'm going to set that girl free and punch some sense into their heads."

"Yeah, I feared you would answer like that..." Hishiro made a wry smile, actually laughing inside at how everything was going just like he wanted. "Just don't get killed. My initial mission was to keep you safe, after all."

The brown haired boy then spoke louder so Index could also listen. "Too bad. It seems one of your documents are missing."

Touma caught up to his act and played along. "Y-yeah. I wonder if it fell from my wallet before we met up. I guess I'll have to go back to look for it."

"Sure. I'll go with Index to a snack bar nearby in the meantime. We'll be waiting for you there."

"Okay, thanks." And so, Touma climbed once again into the car and drove off, leaving Index and Hishiro alone.

…

Without waiting any second, he asked her the critical question. "Is Rüdiger really still alive?"

"Yes. I failed to capture him and he is on the run again." She replied and started running. Hishiro followed her, surprised that she could keep up this pace after all that she's been through.

"Just damn that guy..." he spat annoyed.

"This is not all," Index continued. "That blond girl is also after him."

"Blond girl… Frenda?! I mean, the one that was fighting him before?!"

"Yes. He escaped from me without using magic to stop me from pursuing him. But I think she saw where he went. Thanks to her, I managed to track where he might be right now."

Index looked downwards before continuing. "I bet she was concerned with what he said earlier."

"The seed of doubt stuff, right?"

"Yes. Though the term probably has no meaning. After questioning Rüdiger, I suspect that his goal is to make Academy City and the Church fight among themselves, and for that he needs people from inside the city to be aware of the existence of magic. It could've been anyone. You and she were just chosen by some unknown criteria."

"I see." He narrowed his eyes and thought back on Rüdiger's words. "He also called me an Exception… could this have something to do with this criteria?"

"It's possible. I can't get into details now, but the exceptions could be used to break the balance between magic and science."

"So, in other words… we have to defeat him all while keeping Frenda for finding out the truth because that would mean his victory. This is a harsh defeat condition. How can he cause so much damage from simply having two people within the world of science knows that magic exists?"

"Three," she corrected. "Touma already knows about it. That's probably why Rüdiger sent him away when it all begun. It's also possible that he contacted more people that we are unaware of, so the number can be higher."

Hishiro clicked his tongue. His enemy was one step away from the goal line and he did not even saw it until it was too late. Inside his head, he went through all the information he had and tried to link things together, hoping to find something he could use to turn this situation around. But in the end, his mind always went back to Hinata, who could lose her life at any moment. _What in the world was she doing dealing with the dark side again? That stubborn idiot!_

 **Part 3**

"That's the wagon they used to run away with, right?"

Thanks to the coordinates given by Asuka, the sunglasses driver took Touma all the way to District 10, then he said something about going get a new car and left. So, the spiky haired boy was alone sneaking his way through the streets while trying to figure out how would he deal with Yuna once he met her. _It would be great if I could find the kidnapped girl without running into her, but I guess that I'm not lucky enough for this to happen._

Said and done. Not that far away from the vehicle, Yuna was giving orders to several people disguised as members of Anti-Skill and even Judgment. And she was still dragging the other girl around like a ragdoll, possibly to make sure she wouldn't escape.

Touma wanted to charge in as soon as possible, but there was no way he could do anything against all of them at once, so he kept waiting for a while until the members started to disband little by little. In the end, Only Yuna and other two were left behind.

The one on her left turned to her after finishing a conversation over the radio. "Commander, there is a unit on standby in front of the reformatory. Should I order them to commence the operation?"

"No, not yet. I will personally lead them. This is the one mission we cannot fail no matter what."

 _So they will be leaving soon… this is my only chance!_ Touma left his cover and ran as fast as he could, intending to snatch the younger girl away before anyone noticed he was there. But it didn't go as he planned. "Gaah!"

He had hit something. There was nothing in front of him, but he felt an impact that sent him to the ground. He reached out with his left hand and… _W-what is this? A glass wall? In the middle of the street?_ When he tried to stand up supporting his body on the mysterious obstacle with his right hand, it suddenly vanished with the sound of crashing glass, sending him face first to the ground one more time.

This has caught the attention of the girl on Yuna's right, which panicked and clinged to her arm. "So-something broke into my-my invisible wall! W-w-w-w-what should we d-do?!"

"Hm?" The light brown haired girl turned around and grinned as she spotted Touma laying on the asphalt. "Well, well, well… what do we have here?"

 _Ah, so that was an esper's doing. I should have guessed._ While he regretted his lost opportunity for a surprise attack, Touma stood up and faced Yuna.

She didn't felt intimidated by him and kept talking scanning their surroundings. "Are you alone? Where are your murderous little friend?"

"The grudge between you and him would get in the way, so I came here on my own." Step by step, he approached her, clenching his fists. "I know you are mad at him, and you probably have your reasons, but that girl has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, but he seems to care a lot about her. Wouldn't it be the perfect vengeance if I killed her right in front of his eyes, just like he did to my dear sister?"

"And that would satisfy you? Would your sister be happy to know that you murdered an innocent and brought sadness to the people that loved her in her name?"

Slightly - very slightly - Touma saw her right eye twitch. But besides that, she didn't seemed bothered by what he had said. "Innocent? Heh… now I understand. You have no idea of what has going on, do you? You're nothing but an unfortunate bystander that is trying to play hero in a tale where heroes doesn't belong to. There are no innocents here!"

 _Seems like I can't solve this with words alone._ Touma prepared himself for the unavoidable battle while Yuna threw Hinata aside and ignited her fists.

"Commander? Must I remind you about the mission?"

"Tell the unit to keep their positions until I get there. I'll be done with him in 15… no, less than 10 minutes. We do have this time to spare. And don't you two dare to intervene!"

"... Roger."

"Iiiih?! U-u-understood!"

Obeying her commands, the two disguised agents stepped away (really far away in the younger girl's case) from her. Instead of being irritated about Yuna looking down on him, Touma felt relieved that he wouldn't have to fight all of them at the same time.

After glaring at each other for a few moments that felt like an eternity, both dashed forward at the same time. Touma made sure to erase the flames from her fist with his right hand before anything else, but Yuna still landed the first hit, digging her knee into his stomach. "Guha…!?"

Stumbling backwards, Touma crossed his arms just in time to defend from the next attack. Her high kick was blocked, but she didn't give time for Touma to counterattack. She quickly changed her stance and sent several fast kicks with her other leg until his arms numbed and his defense fell. Yuna then followed up with a punch holding all of her weight that managed to send him to the ground. "This one is just a payback from before. The real thing begins now!"

The boy got to his knees and wiped the blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. However, instead of worrying for his injuries, something else was bugging him.

 _She's sweating a lot, and her face looks really pale… it might be because of the heat of her flames, but… doesn't that looks like a fever? Or is she just THAT angry?_

Putting this aside for now, Touma stood up again and went in for another attack. Yuna saw every blow coming and dodged them all with a mad grin on her face all the time, until she had enough and tackled the center of his body, sending him stumbling backwards once again. Another punch was sent flying for his face, but this time, he caught her fist half way through and countered with an elbow on her ribs.

The girl hissed in pain and took a few steps away, but didn't let that get to her. Once Touma stepped in for another attack, she landed a high kick on his shoulder and followed up with a punch on his chest, knocking the breath out of him.

Intending to finish this now, Yuna ignited her fist and aimed a punch on his face… but failed to see his kick coming faster than her own attack. The strike was brutal and she was sent rolling a few meters back, finally stopping on her knees. Touma stood still, blinking a few times before finally understanding that he had managed to push her back for once. "Ha… ahaha, how's that?!"

"Don't get cocky over a lucky hit, boy!" He actually agreed with her, that just now was probably just a lucky hit. Still, Touma felt that this fight wasn't as hopeless as the one before for some reason…

Massive fireballs coming at Touma bought him back to reality. He could deal with a few of them using his right hand, but it was impossible to get rid of all. And so, one of them exploded on the asphalt right in front of him. "Gwaaah!"

He was the one rolling backwards this time. Finally stopping on his butt, he only had time to barely stand up before Yuna was right in front of him. He once again crossed his arms and braced himself as she started her signature non-stopping punch barrage without giving him a second to breath. Out of options, all he could do was send a sloppy kick on her leg, hoping for it to give him an opening.

"Ah? AHH!"

Surprisingly, the half minded attack sent her completely off balance and she fell back first on the ground. Not understanding how he had done that, Touma stood there blankly and missed his opportunity to get her with her guard down.

Yuna quickly got back to her feet and sent flare after flare at the boy, clearly pissed for what had just happened. The heat bought Touma back to reality as he defended himself from the flames with his right hand and counterattacked with a punch on her side that she was not able to dodge.

 _Huh? Is it me or she is moving way slower than before?_ His suspicions were not baseless. Before, both him and Hishiro barely managed to survive the fight, and now it seemed that Touma alone was equally matched with her.

They clashed once again, with both sides landing about the same amount of hits on each other. Yuna was clearly the more experienced fighter, but she wasn't that much physically strong. When the same amount of strikes were done on each side, Touma's superior strength was an absolute advantage.

Seeing that this wasn't going anywhere, she made him flinch with a wall of fire and stepped back while he was busy getting rid of it. "What's… going on here?" She looked down at her own palms and noticed how blurry her vision was, though she couldn't tell if that was the cause of the whole problem or if it was because she had taken too many hits.

Touma noticed there was something wrong with her and charged forward, not intending to waste another chance. This time, Yuna was the one forced on to defend as he sent slow, but heavy strikes one after the other. Eventually, she failed on catching a punch coming at her face, which sent her flying backwards for the second time in the day.

"W-why? Why is this happening?!" She got back to her feet charged in one more time, not believing that she was being pushed back. Touma was not expecting her to go at him so soon and that earned a flying kick in his forehead, making him fall down like a domino being knocked over.

Before he could react, she climbed on him and started punching and elbowing him nonstop. "Yes. Yes! This is how it's supposed to go! You're nothing but a lost rabbit in my hunting ground! You should have fled when you had the chance!"

After taking several hits, Touma managed to get a hold of her wrists and pushed her off him. Once he got to his foot, he saw Yuna preparing a high kick to send him to the ground again, but he acted faster and landed the third punch on her face before she could do anything.

This one was weaker than the others and she managed to keep her feet on the ground, but it made her anger skyrocket nonetheless. "Dammit! Just what the hell is wrong with- ugh! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

As soon as the deafening screen left her mouth, _blood started spilling out from her eyes and ears_. Shocked, Touma took a few steps back, wondering if that was his doing while her two underlings came rushing to her side.

"Y-Y-Yuna-sama? Wha-wha-wha-what's wrong? What's going on? Yu-Yuna-sama!"

"Commander, you should not overdo yourself. Haven't the Overseer warned you about the side effects?" In contrast to the panicking girl, the male calmly supported her on his shoulders and made her drink a dark reddish liquid from a small bottle he took from his pocket.

The mysterious substance seemed to had some effect as she stopped bleeding. "*pant* *pant* is this… my limit then? *pant*"

"I'm afraid so. We should retreat for now." She clicked her tongue but did not argue against him. The three of them walked slowly towards the wagon that was parked a few meters behind where Touma was, without bothering to pick Hinata back. While they were passing by him, Yuna sent him a menacing glare and said "This isn't over yet. Tell your friend that I'll be coming for his life soon enough. He won't have peace as long I'm still breathing."

The boy felt shivers running through his body, but he did not answer. Actually, he didn't even made eye contact. He just waited until they were gone and then ran to Hinata's side.

"Hey, are you alright? Hey!" No answer. She was unconscious and her breaths were very faint, but she was still alive at least. Even so, she had to be taken to an hospital as soon as possible. "But I actually don't know much about District 10… are there any hospitals here to begin with? This place looks really desolated compared to the rest of the city." In the end, all he could do was wait for the sunglasses driver to come back.

 **Part 4**

The sun had already started to set when Rüdiger arrived to the border between the districts 7 and 18. On his way there, there were already a couple of busses running on the streets, meaning that his time was almost over. "Well, it was fun. Since it's about to end, let's make sure that the final act is so fantastic that no one will never forget."

And for that to happen, he couldn't waste a single second. First, he had to get rid of the bystanders. Namely, the people dressed as Anti-Skill officers blocking the road. "Hey, you! Where are you going? The area is iso-"

"Sorry, but I'll have to ask for you to leave. The show that's about to happen here is not open for the general public." Suddenly, the officers became silent and simply walked away with blank expressions on their faces. "With that out of the way, I would like to prepare a few rituals… but, unfortunately, that won't be possible anymore."

There was someone else there. Someone that wasn't affected by the spell that cleaned the area from the bystanders. The magician knew who it was without even need to turn around and look. "Could you explain how did you get here before me, Frenda Seivelun?"

Wearing her regular black combat outfit and fanning herself with her beret, Frenda observing the magician while leaning on a wall under the shadow of the buildings. "Simple. By observing the direction you were going, it was easy to tell that you were heading to District 18. And since you're from the outside, I assumed the you would take the easiest route to follow instead of the fastest one. In the end, I just had to use some well known shortcuts."

"Not bad. I thought that you were just going to tail me, so I could lead you into a trap. But I guess I am the one inside your trap now, right? That's an interesting turn of events."

"Are you sure you should be smiling in a time like this?" She said in a confident tone, pushing herself from the wall and walking towards him. "This is the end of line for you. When you attacked us a few hours ago, I was almost unarmed and couldn't do much. But now I am fully equipped and you are stepping on the perfect battlefield I prepared. Basically, you don't stand a chance against me!"

"Oh, is that so? Very well, I shall participate in your little show."

His creepy smile sent a few shivers down her spine. Behind all of her act, she was actually a little afraid of her opponent. _Calm down, everything is under control. All I have to do is pressure him and then snatch "that" from his grasp. If my guess is right, he'll have no choice but surrender without it._

Frenda took a deep breath and didn't even bother to answer. She simply flipped a switch from a remote controller hidden in her clothes, which caused a chain reaction of several explosions on the whole street. The smile simply disappeared from Rüdiger's face as the blasts sent him flying towards the crossroads.

…

The explosive noise could be heard from several meters away from there.

"That just now… could it be?"

"Yeah, there's no doubt. This was caused by either the flame snakes or Frenda's bombs. We have to hurry before it's too late!"

…

The battle between Frenda and Rüdiger raged on with several explosions and flames all over the place, eventually leading them to a wide abandoned construction site. The red haired male quickly analyzed the place without turning his back to the blond girl. "I see… so your goal was to bring me here, huh… but now what? Even if you have your beloved bombs or any other hidden weapons set up in this place, you'll eventually run out of them."

"Isn't that obvious? I just need to finish you off before that happens."

The male couldn't help but laugh scornfully. "Fufufufu... don't you understand yet? That's impossible for you. No, for anyone that just rely on science. Unless you widen your horizons, anything you attempt to do against me is futile."

Frenda grinned sadistically and looked at him with blood thirsty eyes, just like a hunter ready to devour its prey. "Are you sure about that? Even if you use those mysterious powers of yours, are you sure that there is absolutely nothing I could do that would kill you for good?"

The one feeling shivers now was Rüdiger as the malicious aura around the girl grew more dangerous by the second. "What do you mean?"

He unconsciously took a step back as Frenda walked towards him, swaying around like a snake about to attack. "For example, let's say that you made a tiiiiiny mistake some time ago that made me realize the trick behind your revival. Then I prepared a trap, dragged you to an specific place… all in order to sabotage it. Do you think you would still be safe?"

Her attitude was putting him on the edge, but her words were intriguing at most. "Let me warn you: if this is a bluff, you better take those words back right now. Because if you don't, then you're giving me a reason to stop holding back and bet all my chips in the next turn."

"Sounds good to me. I'm betting everything on my next move as well."

Those were the last words they had to say to each other. Wind blew between them as the tension grew in the area. The first to make a move was Rüdiger, wavering his wand as if drawing an S in midair. "Both the god and his priests hold the fate of the sick and the injured in their hands. In the right lies the staff that keeps the flames of life burning inside the weak bodies of the unfortunate!"

Instead of the weaker fire-made snakes he had been using until now, he summoned the serpent he had used against Index and Hishiro during their first encounter earlier that day. With charcoal colored skin and ember shining eyes, the being looked way more dangerous than the others.

Frenda didn't wait to see what would happen and took a special tool from her pocket. With it, she sent a couple of sparks to the ground, which ignited the duct tape-like trail she had set beforehand. At the same time, she flipped another switch on the hidden controller and a few blasts occurred around the are, filling the whole place with smoke.

Sensing the incoming danger, Rüdiger waved his wand and the deadly serpent opened its jaw wide, breathing out an absurd amount of fire that spread forward as if it was lava. But with the smoke covering the whole place, it was impossible to tell if the attack was successful or not.

Actually, it was impossible to tell even if she was still there. The magician couldn't see a palm ahead of his own nose. And trying to rely on his ears was also useless, as the only things he could hear were the flames he had created himself and the sparks she had ignited that were still running around somewhere. Or rather, upwards.

"Upwards? Could she-"

 _*CLANG!*_

His fears were confirmed a second after. Steel beams that were part of the abandoned building project rained upon the male, but not to crush him under its weight. The blond girl had somehow cut the edges of the beams, turning them into giant stakes ready to impale her enemy.

 _I see. If one of those were to pierce my body, it wouldn't matter how many times I try to revive. I would be stuck to the ground until someone removes it from above me. That was a smart move, coming from someone that still don't understand about magic._

Clicking his tongue, Rüdiger quickly took a glass cup from within his toplet, crushed it with his bare hands and threw the many fragments in the air while holding a King of hearts with his other hand. Each one of the shards melted into water and expanded vertically, shape shifting into giant tridents that surrounded the magician as if he was locked into a cage. When the beams touched the water, they changed direction and fell down horizontally, piling on each other.

Once it was over, he called off the spell and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Phew, that was a close one. Thank goodness I thought of that spell on the last second but… maybe that girl was right. Mixing different symbols like this is no good. I can feel it's draining my mana faster than I can refine my life force."

"What are you babbling about? Did you forget about me already?"

He didn't even had time to turn around. Frenda, who had approached him from behind at some point, sent a spin kick at his left. He tried to block with his arm, but he didn't expected that her shoe had a blade attached to it. "Gyaaah!"

Without giving the magician any time to recover, she followed up with several kicks aimed at his vitals. Even though he defended himself, his arms were covered with gashes, not to mention the cuts on his torso from the strikes he failed to catch.

Rüdiger's spells took time to activate, and Frenda caught on that, even though she didn't understood how it worked. So, she built her battle tactic around keeping him under constant attacks, with each and every attack being possibly lethal. The male had no choice but try to minimize the damage received, making it impossible to counterattack. Or so she thought…

Her next kick unexpectedly landed on his stomach at full force, sending him flying backwards with a massive amount of blood spilling out of the wound. _Huh? Why did he let that one hit him on purpose?_

Before she could understand what was going on, she felt her skin burning all of a sudden. Turning her head to the direction of the heat. There was-

"!"

Fire. Fire all over the place. She was so focused on keeping Rüdiger busy that she forgot about the first thing he had done when they arrived here: summoning the dark skinned serpent. He had commanded it to position itself at the right spot while he was under attack, and took the last blow in order to keep Frenda in place so she couldn't escape the fire breath.

"Hahahaha… ahhh, maybe I went a little too far. Well, I'm sure I can fix her up as long as she's still alive in there, but I'm not confident she'll be as beautiful as she used to be. A shame, really."

"Oh, don't worry. My beauty isn't going anywhere, and neither am I!" Frenda reappeared from within the smoke, doing a dropkick on the dark serpent that sent it flying against the wall of the next building. The impact was strong enough to make it crumble to ashes on the spot.

Ironically, Rüdiger was now the one that couldn't believe that his opponent was standing there in one piece. "What? H-how…?"

"C'mon, do you really think I would fight you without thinking in a way to deal with fire? Just look around. Basically, you are breathing the answer to your own question right now."

"You don't mean… this smoke!"

"Yes, it's no regular smoke. It is used in factories and other facilities when there's a high risk of a fire setting off. There is a chemical within it that is not absorbed by the human body that stops the oxygen gas from being consumed in combustions. And is also conveniently heavier than the air, so it won't go away anytime soon. Now then." While grinning, she slowly walked towards Rüdiger, who was still lying on the ground, and stomped on him. "Your body is all trashed and you can't do your fire tricks anymore."

"Then go ahead and kill me. I'll show you a miracle right in front of your eyes."

"Will you? I want to see you doing that… _without using this!_ " And so, she showed him an specific item. He recognized it right away and his eyes opened so wide that it looked like they were about to fall from their sockets.

"When? how did-"

"Seriously, you're too careless. Was it really necessary to make this so easy to steal? Maybe it was. After all, you made sure to have it on your hand every time you were close to take a mortal attack."

What Frenda had in her hands was a card, but it was completely different from anything she had ever seen. It had a weird drawing instead of having a suit and a number. All she could make from it was a single line of text in the bottom: I - The Magician. She had no idea what it meant or how it worked, but she noticed he held it on his hands when he used the water snake attack on the nun earlier, and again when she made the beams fall on him. This definitely couldn't be just coincidence.

"... okay, I have to admit. You got me this time. However..." He made a pause as a sinister smile appeared on his face. "You made a grave mistake. If you went through the trouble to get one of my cards, you should've taken them all instead!"

Still beneath Frenda's foot, Rüdiger threw countless cards in the air. Instead of falling like normal, they started to spin like circular saws, emitting a sound that just screamed danger. "This will definitely kill you if you don't do anything. They are faster than you can run, so it's pointless trying to escape. It won't stop if I die either. They will hit you no matter what."

The girl felt shivers running through her whole body. Part of her want to deny the possibility that those things could hurt her, but just looking at it made her want to get away from there as soon as possible… but she was completely surrounded. _I don't understand… I sealed his means of attacking, took away his safeguard and cornered him… and he still turned tables on me? Did I underestimate him so badly?_

"But you have a single chance to survive." The magician continued in a scornful tone. "And you're holding it on your hand right now."

"Huh?"

"Yes, that card. You're absolutely right. It has the power to revive and heal its owner as long as he or she clings to their lives hard enough. So pray! Pray for the miracle I promised you!"

And then, all of the cards flew towards her faster than she could react. Clenching her eyes, she held the card close to her chest and braced herself for was about to come… when a different voice reached her ears.

"C-A-T-T-A-R-T-T-O-P! (Circle around the target and return to the original position)"

None of them hit. They swirled around Frenda and piled themselves over each other right besides Rüdiger. "Eh? EHH?!" Confused, that was all she could do while looking around, trying to understand what had just happened.

The male, on the other hand, was clearly irritated by this outcome. "Tsk. You sure love to step into the stage without being called, don't you? But you brought me the other seed, so I guess I can forgive you this time..."

The voice Frenda heard belonged to Index, who had emerged from the smoke alongside Hishiro. "You two..."

"Seriously, what were you expecting to accomplish on your own?" Mocked the brown haired boy. "We need at least three to keep this guy in check. Can't you see he was just playing with you?"

"Playing? But … but..."

"All he wants is to mess with our minds. You can't believe a single word he says. You can't assume anything from the way he acts. And you can't let your guard down for a moment until you see his rotting body being buried before your eyes, you got that?"

Frenda wasn't pleased by the way he was treating her, but she wasn't in position to make any complaints. She felt more relieved for having survived than annoyed for being looked down upon, so all she did was nod blankly and answer with an embarrassed voice. "Okay. T-thank you… for saving me..."

"Don't get me wrong. I didn't do anything for your sake. If you fall for his trick then that means he wins, so I can't let that happen. Besides, she was the one that stopped the attack, not me." While pointing at Index, he walked to her and took the card from her hands. "Still, you did an amazing job getting this."

"How do you know I got it from him? You were watching this whole time and did nothing to help until now?! And give it back to me!"

"Nope. He wanted you to use it, so it's probably a trap. This isn't something that neither me nor you should be handling." And then he threw the card at Index, who almost let it fall trying to get it. "Is this of some use for you?"

"A major arcana tarot?" The nun narrowed her eyes and analyzed the item closely. "Yes… I think I can use this to fill the gaps and trace the origins of his spells and find a weak point."

"That would be satisfying. We will buy enough time for you to do it, so focus on that."

"Buy time, hmm?" Rüdiger spat scornfully and flipped the first card from the deck besides him - a King of Hearts - and a twister of red fog surrounded his body. When it dissipated, the thing that was lying beneath Frenda's foot was…

"Yikes! G-get off me!"

A snake. It wasn't the one made of fire, nor the one made of water, neither the charcoal colored one either. This one was just a normal one, from a very well known poisonous species called Naja. It wrapped itself around Frenda's leg and looked ready to bite her when the area around its head suddenly became distorted, stopping on its tracks.

"Good grief… I can't even blame her for letting this happen. If it was me, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between him and this either." With his palm stretched towards the animal, Hishiro shot at it with his cannon pistol, ripping its head away from its body… and splattering blood and flesh all over Frenda's stockings.

"Eww… was this really necessary?"

"Would you rather let that thing bite you?"

She couldn't say nothing more as a giant water serpent appeared a few meters in front of them, alongside with Rüdiger holding a glass filled with something that looked like wine. Hishiro clicked his tongue, knowing how dangerous that thing was. Index stepped forward, intending to intercept the attack, but the boy blocked her path. "No, this is exactly what he wants! Keep focusing on your task! It's the only chance we have of winning!"

The nun bit her lip and nodded reluctantly. Even though he was right, this spell wasn't something easy to deal with.

"Don't let a single drop reach you or you're dead, understand?" Hishiro warned Frenda and got into his combat instance. The girl pulled a couple of missiles and was ready to attack as well.

"Hehe, interesting! Nothing more fitting for the grand finale than the seeds of doubt joining forces to take me on!" The magician stalled his fingers and the serpent charged forward. Both Hishiro and Frenda dodged it by jumping to opposite sides. The serpent made a large turn to the right trying to get the boy, but he swung his left arm horizontally and…

 _*KISHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNN!*_

The water wavered, twisted into a whirlpool and exploded into many bubbles that missed him by a hair, making him freeze in place for a moment. Meanwhile, Frenda launched her missiles at Rüdiguer who seemed to be defenseless after the massive attack.

In the face of the incoming projectiles, the red haired male simply took a sip from the cup on his hand and flipped it, letting the liquid splash on the ground. From there, a huge pillar of fire emerged, destroying both missiles at once.

"No way! You shouldn't be able to use fire here anymore!"

"My dear, all you did was to avoid the oxygen from being used to fuel the combustion, right? Then all I have to do is to use something else instead. Of course, it's not something you can accomplish with science alone." After declaring this, he flipped his wrist and the pillar spread out, sending several beams of fire at Hishiro and Frenda.

The blond girl skillfully moved around and dodged all of them without issue. But the boy ended up getting caught and had to use his already burnt arms to protect himself from the heat. "Hggrrrr, dammit! I'm fucking sick of fire already!"

"Is that so? No problem, we can play with water instead!" Holding one card on each hand, Rüdiger smashed the glass cup on the ground and summoned the giant water serpent once again. No, this time, something was different.

"Two of them?! You gotta be kidding me!"

Yes, there was one serpent standing besides each side of the magician. "AHAHAHAHAHAHHA! Hey, cursed walking library! If you don't do anything, they'll really die this time!"

…

Index clenched her fist nervously as she watched the battle unfold. She desperately wanted to step in and shield them from the merciless beasts, but she knew that this wouldn't be of much use in the long term. _Calm down! I need to believe that they can do it! Just like he is believing in me now!_

She had to take a few deep breaths to keep herself concentrated on the task at hand. _Think… this tarot card is proof that he had been the regular playing card suits - the clovers and hearts - as if they were the wands and cups suits from the minor arcana, just like I suspected. But a few things doesn't makes sense in this case, like how he used the hearts cards to draw power from the wind dagger when he attacked the blond girl. It can't be from the color, since there is no sign of yellow in his cards. How then? And what is the meaning of the fire snakes? The water ones definitely is a reference to the Nile, the Egyptian river that was deeply linked to death, which explains how it drains life force of everything it touches… but if that was all, why couldn't I take total control of that serpent? There are a lot of mixed symbols in his techniques, but there must be a single one in the core of it all. Something he is using as an absolute base to keep the spells from going out of … Think!_

"Huh? This is..." While she studied the card, she noticed a small bend on one of the edges. "This drawing… is glued on the card? What was this originally then?" Index pulled the bend and the drawings of the major arcana came off like a sticker, revealing what it was hiding behind: hieroglyphs. The word it formed was… "*gasp*!"

…

Frenda and Hishiro were being forced to the limit. Trying to dodge the two serpents, as well as the occasional pillars of fire and the spinning card saws, they didn't had many opportunities to attack, giving Rüdiger even more space to attack more aggressively. It didn't took long for them to be completely cornered against the wall of the neighbor building.

"So this is checkmate..." Said the magician slowly approaching the two, bringing the deadly currents of water with him. "You should really call that nun for help if you don't want to die."

"Shut up! I'm not let this go the way you want to!"

"Oh well… in that case, I'll have to revive you right after, but I'll be needing that card back first. At this rate, you'll just be suffering for nothing."

The brown haired male was out of options and clicked his tongue. He had ran out of ammo, and trying to defend against those monsters with his power was unreliable… and that's counting just one of them. Glancing to the side, he saw the blond girl shaking on her bases, probably had nothing up her sleeve to turn the situation around. All he could do was bite his lip and scream in his mind. _C'mon, Index! Hurry up!_

"You're not changing your mind, huh? So be it." Without warning, the two snakes charged forward, ready to finish the lives of their target.

But them… the one on the left bit the neck of the one on the right.

"What? What happened?" Surprised, Rüdiger looked over his shoulder and saw Index chanting something while approaching him. "What have you done?!"

"I figured it out. Finally." She replied wearing a confident smile. "The answer to everything… is _Heka._ "

The magician pupils literally diminished when he heard her, but she didn't gave him a chance to say anything and continued. "Those aren't actually snakes, right? They are arms. As such, their movement is limited to how human arms can move… unless we break their bones like this." And then, the left _arm_ twisted the right in an awkward angle, breaking its neck… or rather, its wrist.

Immediately after, Rüdiger fell to his knees, screaming in pain as he held his own wrist. "Gwaaaah! Why… WHY?!"

"It was a smart idea to hide your spiritual item behind the Magician Arcana. This by itself was enough to trample with my analysis, and at the same time, it amplified the effects of your spells and filtered the conflicting meanings behind them, so you could twist and misinterpret everything to archive the results you wanted without risks of side effects."

The magician stood up with difficulty while she continued. " _Both the god and his priests hold the fate of the sick and the injured in their hands. In the right lies the staff that keeps the flames of life burning inside the weak bodies of the unfortunate, and in the left lies the knife that cuts the threads pulling their souls towards the depths of the river of the dead…_ That was your chant to summon the fire-breathing and the water snakes. Once I peeled out your disguise, I noticed what it meant right away. Heka was the god that represented magic in the ancient Egypt… but also was a god of medicine. The staff and the knife were the tools used by the healers of that time. You made use of that and mashed it together with fire - meaning the energy of life, water from the Nile - the river of the dead, and the knife - as the wind dagger in the minor arcana. Not only that, but Heka was often represented as a man with snakes on the place of his arms. It all makes sense now."

"Khhh!" For the first time, Rüdiger's face twisted in anger and he tackled the girl, who fell on her but, and snatched the card from her hand.

"... Index!" His sudden action snapped Hishiro out of his confusion and he was ready to attack the older male from his back, but before he had a chance to do that…

"Ugh… khhhh… what… is happening…?" The red haired man fell on his knees once again, as his skin slowly turned purple.

"Flipped." Explained Index. "As long as you had this, you could draw an insane amount of telesma to heal your wounds, no matter how severe they were. But what would happen if I mixed it with the meaning of the major arcana card you used over it? For example, if I glued it back _upside down_..."

"No...way! ARGH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" And then, the mighty magician withered as his life force was drained in front of their eyes.

 **Between the Lines**

Rüdiger Nowell.

From a very young age, he already showed an unique talent for mischief. Abandoned by his parents, he lived most of his childhood in an orphanage with his younger brother. But he never felt unfortunate because of it. The two siblings were famous among both the children and the caretakers. They would always play pranks on everyone, cheat during games, steal other people's belongings and they challenged everyone to try doing the same against them. Needless to say, no one could actually pull any of that off on them without being caught.

That kid was actually a genius. He did all what he did solely with the intention of outwit the people around him, making them learn from their mistakes and become more wary to increase the difficulty of playing the next prank.

At some point, he developed an interest in illusionism and focused all of this part of his personality into creating tricks that nobody would ever be able to figure out. Eventually, he fell in love with the amazement of the people who watched him, which pushed him further and further towards creating something even more fantastic.

He wanted more.

He wanted to break the basis and assumptions of his audience.

He wanted to show them a new world. A world that himself had created. A world that would completely destroy their reality.

"If that's what you want, you first need to destroy your own basis, your own assumptions, your own reality… your own world itself. Do you think you're ready for something like this?"

That's what that man had said to him one day after a show. He hesitated at first, but his desire was greater than his fear. From that day on, he had learned the true meaning of magic, and welcomed the name Genius472 as his own. That was his first step towards being the great magician that he would become, and also, the final innocent trick he would play. After all, even though that name mirrored his brilliant mind and creativity, it could also be interpreted as a word that summarized his soul and passion: entertainer.

* * *

 **Phew... That was by far the most difficult chapter to write. But it was also the most fun. Actually, I finished this a week and half ago, but felt that something was missing. This is the climax of the arc I've been working on for so long, it would be bad if it ended up being underwhelming. And then, when I noticed, it had surpassed 13,000 words! Let me say this now: I won't make a habit of creating such long chapters. This one here was a special case, since there were two villains to be dealt with at the same time, but this (probably) won't happen again.**

 **So... Rüdiger's trick finally came to light (it feels great to see it happening, since I've planned that scene so long ago). I made a very brief explanation, but for those interested, Heka is the most important name for Egyptian magic. It was not meant to be the name of a god, but the actual word also means magic itself. It felt fitting for a magician, that is also a _magician_ (you get what I mean XP), and has his most important spell focused on The Magician card from the Major Arcana. Also, aside from Heka being heavily linked to medicine, the very fact that The Magician card is the number 1 in the tarot is one of the factors that contributed to his revival spell, since it means "the first step one takes after the beginning of his journey". I tried to make link all of those different symbols to make him as Kamashi-ish as possible... I hope I ended up archiving what I wanted to.**

 **In the end, I set Tsuchimikado's side quest aside for a while (don't worry, it'll resume soon enough) and introduced a bit of Rüdiger's origin there. I wanted to avoid stepping into the tragic past kind of villain - since Yuna kinda filled this spot - and went for a person that just wanted to have fun challenging other people's wits. He doesn't care about what kind of dirty work he have to do as long as he can take his time to mess around and show off. I think that this was the perfect kind of person to reveal magic to people that don't knows about it. I hope you guys liked him... but sadly, he'll be leaving the stage. Though I made sure that his final battle was meaningful: he vs the two seeds of doubt + Index, who he has been messing up since the beginning of the arc.**

 **Next chapter I will wrap up all the loose ends left to finally put an end to this arc (such as how will they explain to Frenda what happened there and what Touma thinks of Hishiro after all he had gone through). As always, I give my special thanks to the people pointing out the typos I somehow left behind (seriously, it's like someone shot down my typo surveillance satellite or something *laughs*) and to those that helped me with ideas for this arc. I'll see you all next time!**

 **PS: I missed the opportunity before because I found out too late, so I'll commemorate it now... INDEX SEASON 3 IS COMING! HELL YEAAAAAAAAHHHH!**


	17. Snakes and Lizards

**III**

 **Chapter 17: The Enemy of an Enemy is yet Another Enemy**

 **Snakes_and_Lizards**

 **Part 1**

July 31th, 6:00 PM - The Reformatory located in District 10.

There was special ward in the reformatory that the general public might not know about.

Academy City has no laws against treason, thus when one commit such actions, they can't be properly judged. However, that doesn't mean that those people would be forgiven with a pat in the back and a warning of "just don't do this again" and then be left alone as if nothing had happened. They were bought into this special ward and locked up for an undefined amount of time until (and if) the person in charge found a way to deal with them, such as selling them to the dark side, or worse things that is probably better not to mention.

Even though it's called a 'ward', it isn't exactly something as organized as the name makes it sounds. In truth, it was spread along the whole facility within secret passageways containing several cells similar to the ones you would encounter in the general ward. Except that those weren't separated by sex, and no one seemed to care about the complications this could cause either.

However, there were a few exceptions to that.

For those individuals that were considered to be too dangerous when around other people, they were locked in individual cells far apart from the others so there would be absolutely no chance of external communication. And the man that claimed to be Kihara Hideaki happened to be classified as such.

He wasn't that much of a powerful esper, he wasn't that physically strong and he probably didn't deserve to be called a Kihara. But he had a weapon no one could take from him: his natural ability to lead other people. He was a revolutionary. And so, the higher ups were afraid that he would make the mind of the others within the facility and start a rebellion. To avoid that, he was locked in the farthest cell and only the automated robots were allowed to interact with him.

For that reason, during all this time ever since he was captured, he had been alone here save from the interrogation sections that had stopped happening for quite a while now. This would be enough to damage the sanity of a normal person, but if there was one or two actual characteristics this man shared with the Kihara's was his intelligence and the fact he wasn't normal. From the moment he had given up his life that day, nothing in the world could make him break. The death of his followers meant his death as well. And so, believing he had reached the worst possible ending, he accepted his situation as a redemption towards those who had put their faiths on him.

But that was a naive way of thought. He rooting in this place for the rest of his life was probably the best outcome he could ever hope for after following the path he decided to. And the darkness of this city wasn't kind enough to let it end like this.

 _*Crumble*_

"Is this… an earthquake?"

After the tremors and the loud noise, all the lights went out. Hideaki stood from the chair he was sitting on and tried to look outside of the cell, but there was only darkness. From far, far away, he could hear the anxious voices of the people caught by surprise by the sudden black out, though he couldn't tell if they were from the staff members or from the other prisoners.

And then, all voices stopped. All that was left was the eerie atmosphere left by the darkness and silence. "Hey! Is there someone out there!? What is happening!? Hey!" No answer came. Nothing happened for what seemed to be an eternity.

But then, finally there was a source of light at the other end of the hallway. It was an orange colored and very faint shine that barely illuminated the floor and one of the walls. It was slowly approaching his cell, accompanied by the sound of footsteps that made his extremely nervous for some reason.

"Who's there?! Answer me!" He couldn't help but shout, trying to keep himself calm, but he regretted after doing it as the light and the footsteps stopped. Whoever it was, now it knew he was there and he had no way to know what it was going to do with him. However, the person unexpectedly answered him in a desperate tone.

"Professor? Professor, is that you?"

The girly voice sounded totally out of place, and he took a while to recognize it. "This voice… no way… Yuna?"

"Professor!" The footsteps resumed faster than before and the light came close enough to reveal itself as some type of flashlight held in the girl's hands - who was indeed Yuna.

"Is it really you? Are you still alive? Oh, Thank goodness!" He said with a relieved face as he approached the door to get a better look of her. "How did you survive?"

"No time for questions now Professor. First we're going to get you out of here." Soon after she said that, something detonated on the outer side of the cell door, making it fall down like a domino. With nothing separating them anymore, she rushed inside the cell and hugged Hideaki who returned the embrace.

"What about Yuko? Is she with you?"

"Professor, the others… and Yuko… she didn't..."

"I see… I'm sorry to hear that. Still, I'm very glad that at least you made it alive. Really-" And then he noticed there was something wrong. Namely - the state of the body of the girl still in his arms. "Yuna, those injuries…"

The girl hung her head and stepped away from Hideaki. When she lifted her face again after a few seconds, she answered in a playful voice with a mischievous smile. "Hehe... you noticed them, huh? That's a bit embarrassing. Will you believe me if I say that they were caused by the security of the reformatory?"

Hideaki frowned, causing the smile to vanish from Yuna's face. Both of them knew very well that the staff were not armed and relied totally on the anti-esper equipment present in the facility - which may have been disabled now that the power has been cut. Dropping the excuse, the girl started talking on a more serious tone. "Sorry Professor. You know, after that day, I lost everything. I didn't even know you were still alive. So these people came to me and I..."

"Hm..." The man simply closed his eyes and nodded. He pretty much grasped the whole situation she was in - as well as his own now that _these people_ had found him as well.

"B-but you don't have to worry, they aren't bad! See? They even let me come to rescue you!" She continued talking on and on, but at this point, he wasn't interested in her words anymore. _You really are a good girl, Yuna… but also naive._

"Commander, I'm afraid we don't have much time left." Warned one of the men behind her.

"Ah- yes, of course. We're leaving right away." Hearing her words, the man bowed and started giving orders to the others waiting outside of the cell. "Come with us, Professor. The Overseer is waiting for you."

Sighting, all Hideaki could do was give in to his fate. He was finally leaving this horrible place, but that didn't meant he had regained his freedom.

 **Part 2**

After the battle against Rüdiger was finally over, Hishiro and Index went to the closest cafe they could find to wait for Touma to come back.

Frenda was intending to go as well, but the boy figured that it would be too bothersome to have her around, asking questions that they couldn't answer, so he asked Asuka to deal with her. He had no idea of what she have actually done, but Frenda received a phone call after a minute he asked her and the girl went completely pale as she tried to make excuses to whoever it was (Hishiro guessed it could be Mugino, but the mere fact that Asuka had a way to contact her gave him goosebumps so he decided to believe that wasn't the case). In the end, she went away satisfied with a simple exchange of phone numbers saying that she would call later for explanations (which he wasn't intending to answer at all).

Inside the air conditioned store, Hishiro finally managed to relax his body after many hours of tension. Besides the exhaustion, there was the pain of his many bruises and burns he had been trying to ignore up until now, but since his adrenaline rush was over, it was finally getting to him and it showed on his face.

"Are you hurt?" Asked Index, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table.

"It's nothing serious, I can deal with it later." He answered forcing out a smile. "More importantly… how can you be so sure that it's over this time? That guy survived even after having his whole body erased."

"It's because his spell relies on a Major Arcana, and those are deeply affected by their positioning. The effect of a spell can change completely depending on if the card is upright or upside down, sometimes even causing opposite effects."

"So in summary…" The boy placed his hand on his chin and tried to catch up with what she was saying. "The spell that was supposed to make sure he always survived changed into something that would absolutely kill him when you flipped the card's position… right?"

"It's similar, but not exactly this. The base of all his magic was the Egyptian god of magic and medicine Heka. Thus, no matter what kind of injury his body suffered, he would always be treated and healed as long as he held onto the symbol, which was the card in this case. Reversing the card reversed the meaning of it, so instead of being having his wounds treated, the healthy parts of his body were destroyed one by one."

"So it's something like watching a video of a surgery from the end to the beginning… that's insane. I've seen my share of brutality, but nothing ever compared to this."

Index downcast her eyes before replying. "Honestly I didn't want it to end like this. I only sabotaged the card as an insurance in the case he got it back, but it would be better if we could have captured him and sent him to Necessarius in England."

"Even though I don't understand much about magic, I think it couldn't be helped. If you haven't done what you did when you did… I don't even want to think about it." He felt shivers just remembering the tight situation he was in at the end of the battle. Letting out a heavy sigh, he decided to change the subject to ask what he wanted to know the most. "What he even wanted to accomplish anyway? You said something about making the Academy City and the Church fight, but… why?"

Index closed her eyes and took some time to answer. "... I'm not sure. A conflict between Academy City, which is the core of the science side of the world, and the church, which is the core of the magic side that transcend even countries, would probably result in a large scale war."

"War?!" Exclaimed the boy, almost tipping the juice cup he was drinking from a moment ago.

"Yes. The conflicting ideals from both sides would lead humanity to a war of scales beyond anything described in history books."

"Seriously…?" He was having a hard time accepting this. How come a single person's actions have such a grand impact? He wanted to reject the idea from how ridiculous it sounded, but after seeing magic happening with his own eyes, he felt it was wrong to deny any possibility. "This is unreal… but if what you're saying is right, we have to go back to the first question: why?"

"I doubt a single individual would have any direct gain from it, so... I think that there must be a group behind all of this. And it's impossible to know the reason without more clues."

"Wait, so in other words… is it possible that more of them would come to Academy City after me and the other Seeds of Doubt and Exceptions?"

Index blinked a few times upon hearing his speculation. "It's possible… I haven't thought about this up until now."

Clenched his fists, Hishiro cursed under his breath. _I barely made it alive fighting one of them… If more were to come, what would I do?_ Silence feel between the two for a while. During the meantime, he started to link the dots inside his mind. _Come to think of it… wasn't someone inside the city interested in the magic knowledge inside Index's memories to begin with? I'm fearing for my life here, but that's my selfish view of me being in the epicenter of this incident, which might not be true. After all, the Grim Reaper warned me to stay out of this from the very beginning… dammit, just what all of this means? I want to know… no, I feel like I need to. If I don't understand what is happening, I might end up dying for being in the way of something I didn't even knew that was coming._

Suddenly, his cellphone rang. He was so lost within his own thoughts that he almost fell from the chair by the surprise. Picking it up, he was ready to tell Asuka to call later, but the voice on the other side of the line wasn't from a female.

"Hello, it's me."

"Who… Touma?"

"Yes."

Hearing her friend's name, Index beamed almost instantly. "Touma? Where is he? Is he coming?"

Only now that he had called, Hishiro remembered that there was yet another incident taking place somewhere else. Cursing himself for forgetting about it (and ignoring Index's rapid fire questions), he focused in taking the important information without giving away what they were talking about. "How did it go?"

"I managed to get your friend back. She is in a hospital right now. I know the place, she is surely in good hands."

"That's good… and what else?"

"If you're talking about that crazy girl, I fought her but she started bleeding on her own all of a sudden and retreat right after. It seems it was some kind of side effect of something..."

"I see… I was actually suspecting there was something weird back then."

"But she hasn't given up. She said she was still going after you. If I were you, I wouldn't let my guard down from now on."

"Haha… well, I do get that a lot..."

"Have you ever considering stop doing things that would make people hate you?"

Hishiro's eyes twitched when he heard Touma's last statement. _What's with his tone? Is he trying to teach me morals or something? What a joke._ "That's not really the time to discuss this, right? Index is here waiting for you to come back."

The other boy feel silent after this retort. Hishiro could tell how displeased he was about the whole situation, but right now, there weren't much he could do about it. He was too tired to care at what Touma would think of him. In fact, it was already a miracle that both situations had been solved without him noticing it, and the brown haired boy thought that this was more than enough for now.

The call ended shortly after that and Touma arrived right after. The three of them enjoyed their meal, talked and laughed as if nothing serious had happened during the day. Hishiro couldn't tell if the whole situation was a comical act or a sign of how the other two trusted and worried for each other. After about an hour or so, they left the store and went in their separate ways.

…

"Hm? Touma, what is it?" Asked Index in a worried tone while Touma kept looking at the back of the other boy as he went away.

"... It's nothing." He shook his head and turned back to her. "But I have the feeling that there is something wrong with him."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure… but I can't trust him. It feels like everything he does and says is nothing but a facade."

Index tilted her head and smiled at him. "He probably has his own circumstances, but I'm sure Hishiro is a good person."

"How can you tell?"

She simply kept smiling and turned around, looking at the sky. "I just know it."

Touma was dumbfounded by how unreasonable she was being, but that innocent behavior made him notice that he was finally back to his normal life, and he couldn't help but smile as well. "Well, if you say so..."

 **Part 3**

7:59 PM - Inside a certain roofless warehouse in District 11.

As the night slowly covered the sky of Academy City in darkness, it was almost impossible to spot a single silhouette walking among the tall and large steel containers. It wore black leather boots, black pants, a black cape and suit over a white shirt and a toplet above its red hair. Yes, this person was the magician Rüdiger Nowell, the one who had spread chaos within the city during the whole day until he was finally defeated about an hour ago… or that's what everyone had thought. Yet once again, the man was on his feet and walking as if nothing had happened.

No, that wasn't exactly accurate. In fact, the last surprise attack he had received when Index sabotaged his healing spell was brutal enough to leave some damage on his body even after his revival, and he could feel the phantom pain even now, which made his way of walk slightly awkward.

"Hehehehehehe… wonderful… this is absolutely the best! I don't even remember when was the last time I had so much fun." Exhausted, he leaned his back on one of the containers and let his body slide down until he sat down on the floor. "Haaah… it's too bad that I have to let it end like this. I wish I could at least let them know that it ended up in a tie. The look on their faces would be priceless. But… I guess it's not possible for me to put even more pressure on this body. Just moving around like this is already taking a lot of effort. I better concentrate in recovering my stamina before Hamapep comes back."

The man closed his eyes and tried to rest his mind and body as much as he could before the appointed time arrived for him and his teammate to regroup and leave the city.

However, he forgot the fact that he was still in enemy territory. And letting his guard down like this soon proved to be a terrible mistake. Less than ten minutes passed by, and that was enough for a certain someone to find him.

"Good grief. Only four years have passed and you're already in this pathetic state?"

Rüdiger felt his heart literally stopping for a moment when the voice reached his ears. He got up as fast as he could and got a few cards on his hand while he searched for who had talked to him. Surprisingly enough, the person in question was just 3 steps away from him. He hadn't heard any footstep nor felt the presence of this person at all.

"Why are you putting yourself on guard all of a sudden? Don't you recognize me? Or are you finally feeling a bit of guilt and is afraid of what's about to come?"

The magician didn't understand the meaning of these words right away. _Recognize him? Is there someone I know living in Academy city? Perhaps a fan or an old friend… no, nothing rings a bell._ He rubbed his eyes and decided to study the figure of the person a little more carefully.

The person was a boy, undoubtedly younger than him, wore what looked like an expensive suit… but it was all messed up, as if he didn't know how to properly wear it, or just didn't care to wear it in the right way. He also had spiky dark red hair and-

Suddenly, Rüdiger's eyes opened wide and his jaw hanged as he took a closer look at the boy's face. "N-no way… impossible… Rupert? Is… is that you, my brother?"

"Yo! Long time no see, Rüdiger nii-san!" A smile beamed on the younger male, but it was filled with a feeling other than happiness of encountering a sibling. "By the way, if you call me by this name again, I'll have to kill you right away, okay? Rupert Nowell is long dead. You killed him, remember? Right now, people refer to me as the Overseer."

"K-killed you? What are-"

Unpleased by the direction of the conversation, the smile disappeared from Rupert's face as fast as it had appeared earlier, and it was replaced by an expression that was a mix of annoyance and boredom. "C'mon, playing dumb now won't get you anything, so just drop it. You left me to die 4 years ago. All for the sake of your foolish and selfish desire. Seriously, do you have any idea of what I had to go through to survive on my own during all this time? No, I bet the thought not even crossed your mind."

"That's wrong! I-"

"Just cut it out already. I'm not here for vengeance or anything, so try to relax a bit. I'm actually grateful for you, you know?"

"G-grateful?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't be on my current position within the core of the science world if weren't from all the shit that happened, after all." The boy opened his arms in a similar way that Rüdiger usually did during his shows before continuing. "Here, I'm at the top. I have enough power and influence to take control of the whole city. Meanwhile, you're nothing but a spendable pawn… how ironic, isn't it?"

Rüdiger couldn't feel calm around his brother at all. Something about him had changed. He was unable to tell what he was intending to do from the way he was acting. "I don't get it. Are you mad at me or not?"

"Hmm… I guess I am. But not for the reasons you're thinking." Answered Rupert with a dangerous, yet childish look on his eyes. "Your presence here today almost wasted months of preparations for my plan. This is something I can't ignore, even if you're my brother. Besides, if I don't take action now, that little faction you belong to will keep getting in my way in the future. Therefore~" He then turned around and walked a few steps away from Rüdiger. Once he was far enough, he glanced at his brother over his shoulder with a malicious grin and lifted his hand towards the sky. Between his index and middle fingers, he held a pair of cards: an ace of diamonds and a ten of spades. "Could you please die for me?"

 _*Clang*_

There were metallic noises ringing all around the place. The older male felt the incoming danger and jumped backwards just a second before the attack came. Dozens of containers moved unnaturally towards the place Rüdiger was standing before and crashed on each other, causing a huge shockwave that sent the magician's body flying backwards until he struck the wall of the warehouse. "Gyhaaaaa!"

"Of course, I know you won't die so easily." The younger male said nonchalantly as he approached his older brother. "Not until something is done about that really annoying spell of yours. The Magician cards from the Major Arcana - one for each of the four suits of the Minor Arcana. I heard you have been busy playing around today… but being careless the way you are, you probably lost at least one of them. You know that pretty well, don't you? That's why bring so many of them with you in the first place, right? That being the case, I wonder how many are left?" And so, he flipped three other cards in his fingers.

Steel containers aligned in lines behind Rupert and shot one after the other at Rüdiger. The magician took a glass cup from within his toplet, crushed it in his hand and threw the shards forward, summoning a snake shaped tornado filled with ice fragments that redirectioned the containers on touch. Meanwhile, he caught his brother trying to sneak on him with the corner of his eye and prepared an ambush. _I can't let this drag on for too long. Using the sharp glass shards as the wind dagger is a solid deffence method, but consumes too much of my stamina. Besides, I need to warn Myrin about this. Sorry Rupert, but if I'll have to go this far to knock you down… so be it._

The moment the younger boy reached the older's back and prepared to attack, Rüdiger turned around and sent several cards of the clovers suit flying, ready to pronounce the chant of his divine punishment. However, before he did it, something picked his attention: there was a single card in Rupert's hand. It wasn't of spades, or diamonds, nor hearts and neither of clovers. It wasn't from the traditional minor arcana suits either. The symbol that was drawn on it was… _Is this a star? Which element is it tied to?_

And something happened right after. There was no chant, no activation signal, no light and no sound. No words exist in the human language that could describe the phenomenon that took place in that moment. From Rüdiger's perspective, it was as if he had stopped in space while the whole world was spinning around him at an incomprehensible speed, distorted, spiraled in a vortex and then stopped as his body simply got damaged from both inside and outside. Once it was over, there was blood sprayed all over the place and all of his cards plus bits of his clothes were torn apart. All in less than a single second. It was so ridiculous, even for someone of the magic side, that he had to process it for some time to realize that he had actually been attacked. And only then the pain kicked in, driving him almost insane. "UgH- KhrTJiNG-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Done already? Meh, sooooooo boring..." Said Rupert looking unsatisfied as he watched his brother convulse like a mad man in the dirt.

"Whaaat…. WHAT YOU DID TO MEEE!? GAAAAAAAAH!"

"Oh, this… well, it's too much of a pain to explain. In fact, it isn't something that someone that relies only in magic can understand."

"Khhhhhh!" Biting his lip, Rüdiger forced himself to get on his knees and pointed his wand towards Rupert with his waving hands.

"Ooooh~, so you can still get up after that. That's the nii-san I used to know and love. Trying to impress the crowd even if that means experimenting death multiple times in a single day." After saying this, the younger sibling took a few more cards from his deck.

And the two clashed over and over again as the night went on.

 **Part 4**

8:40 PM - Inside a certain apartment in District 3.

At first, he was intending to go back to his hideout in District 10, but he was so tired after all the battles he fought today that Hishiro decided to head to this place instead. It was basically his second home, but much more luxurious than his first one. It had a large room that served both as a living room and a dining room, a fully equipped kitchen (which he never used because he was terrible at cooking), and 3 bedrooms with a bathroom each and a balcony in the one he used to sleep. He usually felt uneasy to live alone in such a large space, but he couldn't deny the fact that this place was very comfortable.

Not much later than he had arrived there, his phone started to ring. He knew exactly who it was and he was not looking forward to this conversation at all. "Hello?"

"Hi, it's Frenda!" Her cheerful voice made a wry smile appear on his face. Somewhere deep inside him, he was hoping that she would just forget what happened.

"Yeah, I was fearing you would call…"

"What was that? Geez… and I even honored you by giving my personal number. Isn't it exciting to talk to a cute girl at this time of the night?"

His eyes twitched at her provocation. _Why is she sounding so similar to Asuka? Are all girls like this when they talk through the phone?_ "Honestly? No when the girl in question tried to kill me before, and specially, because the subject is something I'd rather forget about for now."

"Tehehe~ Fair enough, I think." Her answer made it clear that she didn't cared at all about what Hishiro felt towards this whole situation.

"Okay, let's get this done with. It's really complicated for me to explain it from the beginning to the end, so I'll just answer any questions you make."

And so, they talked for about 40 minutes. Frenda asked everything she could remember from the incident, from who Index was to why they were suddenly attacked that day. Hishiro gave the shortest answers he could think of, always disguising the magic as the technology developed in England that ITEM's liaison had mentioned when she had analysed the contents of the USB drive during the Breakdown incident - which was actually half truth.

"Hmm… I think I kinda got it, but not really..."

"Good. That means we are on the same page then. Are you satisfied yet?"

"Ah, just one more thing. Why are you actually sharing this all with me?"

"Huh? Well, it's because… uh..." This one caught him off-guard. Why he was even doing this? He had no obligation to waste his time telling her that. They fought together because they had a common enemy twice, but they weren't exactly friends or allies. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't come up with an easy answer.

"Hey? Are you still there?" Frenda grew impatient, but he paid no heed as he was dumbfounded at his illogical actions. Digging deeper into his own mind, he remembered something.

That woman holding the large Katana.

The moment Rüdiger first summoned the coal snake and turned the scenery into a blazing inferno.

A single felling tied those two events inside him: fear. As much as he didn't want to admit, he was scared of these enemies that defied the logic of this world. He would rather challenge a level 5 to a death battle than to ever having to fight against another magician.

"To tell you the truth..." Sighing, he built up his courage and spoke. "It may not be over yet."

"What do you mean?"

"We defeated Rüdiger, but he might not be the only one after us. If another one of them appear, I probably… no, I definitely won't be able to take him on alone. I simply don't know enough about them, and I don't have enough raw power to fight them head on. So, if it ever come to that..."

"I see… so basically, since I'm the other Seed of Doubt, you'll need my help, right?"

He couldn't answer. That was his limit. It was too embarrassing for him to go past this point. But unlike him, Frenda cast away her pride and continued. "Actually, I don't think I could have survived that one alone as well. So let's make a deal: If any of us get attacked again, the other will help out, okay?"

"... Fine." His embarrassment aside, he felt a bit relieved that she agreed with him. He actually wasn't expecting she would cooperate. "But don't you dare to not fulfill your part of the deal and leave me to die."

"I-I wouldn't do that! Besides, if they kill you, won't I be next?"

...

After that, the call didn't last long. Once it was over, Hishiro decided to put all of that aside for now and relax playing one of the many gaming consoles he had in the apartment. But no matter how long he played to try to forget all the troubles he had gone through that day, his curious mind always drifted towards one thing. "Magic, huh..."

Unable to brush it off, Hishiro got up from the sofa and went straight to the notebook on the table and opened the search website in the browser. From there, he picked one of the myths he knew from the many RPG's he had played and tried to learn everything he could from the subject, as well as bits of the culture of that time. "Seriously, what the hell am I doing?"

The boy then organized all the information he had gathered, trying to classify them into the requirements Index had said earlier that was necessary to use magic. _First, to convert life force into mana… she mentioned breathing techniques, right? I guess this one should do then. Next is arranging symbols in a meaningful way, and at last something to work as the trigger..._

Satisfied with what he got, the boy then copied the symbols on a sheet of paper, placed it on the floor and began the improvised ritual. As he breathed in and out, trying to imitate what he had read a while back, his body begun to get more and more tense.

Part of him was saying that he should stop right there.

Part of him wanted to to see what was going to happen.

Part of him was saying that this was ridiculous.

His heartbeat got faster and faster when he started chanting the words. He felt it - something was definitely happening around him. There was a tingling sensation on the back of his neck that was both unpleasant and exciting at the same time. It was almost over… what would happen? Was it going to be exactly as he was expecting? Would it turn into something else due to his lack of experience?

Just two more words left…

He pressed his palm over the center of the drawing on the paper…

And then…

…

…

Nothing happened.

"Hehehe… Oh well, I should've expected that. If it was so easy, then a lot of people around the world would end up casting spells accidentally like crazy." Disappointed, Hishiro turned off the power of the notebook and laid down on the sofa, resting the still tingling back of his head on his crossed arms. "Besides, she did say that people with powers like espers can't use magic."

Like this, he closed his eyes in an attempt to calm down his still agitated body. Eventually, he ended up falling asleep on the spot.

 **Between the Lines**

"Haah haaah haah… *cough* *cough* N-not good… I somehow managed to get away from him... but I need to get out of here..."

Coughing a worrisome amount of blood, Rüdiger made his way to the closest place to the southeast walls of Academy City he could get. His clothes were a mess, there were wounds and cuts all over his body, and probably several of his bones were broken, but even then he still pulled off a miraculous escape worthy of a stage magician.

"The only problem is how… I've lost all of my cards and misinterpreting the symbols of the minor arcana on this state without the blessing of Heka would be suicide."

"It's simple: you're not going anywhere-nya."

"Wha-"

 _*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*_

Four bullets pierced Rüdiger's already weak body, knocking the remaining strength out of him. He couldn't even feel the pain anymore. His limbs simply gave in and he fell on his back as his consciousness threatened to slip away at any second. With great effort, he turned his face to see where the attack came from.

There was a blonde boy wearing a hawaiian shirt and sunglasses (even though it was already dark) wielding a handgun pointed at him. "S-so… The city… finally made a move… a-against me, huh? Hehehe- *cough* *cough* *cough*"

"Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting. We have a lot on our hands right now." The boy stood beside Rüdiger's body and kicked him where one of the bullets had hit, making the wound finally hurt.

"Guhaaaa- *cough* !"

"You sure made a mess today-nya. I hope you're ready to give some explana-"

"If you… expect me to g-give away… any information. Just forge- GAAAWW!"

"Oi, oi, oi, I'm not done talking yet. Don't you have any manners, hmm? And don't worry: we from the science side have very effective ways to make someone spill the beans-nya." Tsuchimikado kicked the magician a few more times on the same spot until he simply stopped responding. "Tsk, fainted already. I wish I could get some answers early, but I guess I have no choice but to wait until he wakes up."

At any rate, his mission was over. It had been a roller coaster ride to track down the origin point of all the odds that were happening in recent incidents, once all the clues pointed towards a magic intruder, everything fell in place and he could wrap it up without any more collateral damage.

Or so it should have been…

Suddenly, a shadow appeared beneath Rüdiger's body and swallowed it. The blonde boy was a second too late to react and failed to stop the phenomenon from happening. "What- what was that?"

And then, he heard a voice coming from the top of the closest building. "Good grief… I knew it would come to this. And I warned you so many times..." Turning his head towards the source of the sound, he saw a brown skinned male about the same age as Rüdiger wearing marble robes, a turban over his short black hair, moon shaped earrings and a sun shaped pendant hanging from his long necklace at the height of his abdomen. It was hard to tell from this distance, but it seemed he also had silver marks on his body. But the most important thing was that, somehow, the redhead magician was on his arms.

Tsuchimikado understood right away that he had made a mistake assuming out of the bat that there was only one of them. Cursing his carelessness, he spoke up to the new enemy with his usual carefree tone. "And who might you be?"

"Oh, forgive my rudeness. You may call me Hamapep." The male said politely while bowing down. "I assume you are the Grim Reaper I heard so much about."

"Being famous ain't easy-nya. I wouldn't expect a magician from the outside to know me."

"We do know everything about you, _backstabber_." Upon hearing that, Tsuchimikado dropped his smile and aimed the gun at Hamapep, who simply shook his head. "Please stop. I do not wish to confront you, otherwise I would have introduced myself with my magic name instead."

"So what? Do you expect me to simply let you go?"

"That would be for the best of both our interests. I do not have time to spare to deal with someone of your level, and I'm pretty sure you prefer to not use magic and damage your own body because of a simple passerby."

"Passerby?"

"Yes. Even if you do defeat me now, our goals here have already been accomplished, so it would change nothing. You would make better use of your time and energy to prepare to fight off the ones that are still to come before they complete their missions, otherwise you and this city's security will only be seen as incompetent."

"You do have some guts to say that while your friend is in this state."

Hamapep cast glance towards Rüdiger before sighing and answering. "So, your people took a whole day to defeat our healer. Are you sure you should be proud of this? Our actual combatants are leagues above him."

The blond boy got irritated at his words, but couldn't think of nothing to talk back. It was true that those two had gotten him and Academy City as a whole this time.

Seeing as he had nothing left to say, the robed man bowed once more and prepared to leave. "Well then, if you excuse us." He turned around and took out one of his earrings, ready to cast some kind of spell, but before he did… "One more thing. Please, tell your boss, the chairman Aleister Crowley, that the Golden Sages of the Next Aeon sent their regards." and then he threw the earring up. Once it overlapped the moon image on the sky, a blinding light shone from it, forcing even the sunglasses wearing boy to look away. Once it was over, none of them were anywhere to be seen.

Left alone in the back alley, Tsuchimikado clicked his tongue in annoyance. _Golden Sages of the Next Aeon? I don't like the sound of this. Things have just barely begun and are already growing out of proportion._

* * *

 **And this is it. Arc 3 is finally done. I'm actually happy to have finished it before Christmas, given how long I took to release the chapters this year.**

 **Before anything else, I must say something: I'm sorry. I lied. The battle on the last chapter wasn't Ruiger's last one. Though I did foreshadowed that the mysterious Overseer was coming for him earlier… I wonder if any of you saw it coming?**

 **With that, the third faction - the Golden Sages of the Next Aeon - is finally introduced. On that note, I want to let you all know that one of many things that inspired me to write this fic was OT15, the Battle Royale arc of the novels. So this isn't a Hishiro vs Aleister's plans story, but a struggle of many powers that have an impact on what drove things to happen in the canon. So far, we have New Pointer, Aleister and Tsuchimikado, the rebel group of the darkness with a magician leader LIZARD, ITEM, the Kamijou Faction (though Touma himself won't appear very often), and even SCHOOL and STUDY were mentioned before. And don't expect those to be the only ones. I want to set up a massive multiway brawl, so if you enjoyed OT15 look forward to it!**

 **Changing the topic, from now on I'll address any question asked in the reviews directly in the Author's Notes of each chapter. I think this format is more organized than throwing the answers in the middle of the text. So...**

 **Guest: 1. My intention was to make him act cocky in front of Frenda because he knew more about the meaning of those cards than her thanks to Index. But I fear that I didn't made it clear enough that both him and Index were watching the battle unfold for a while (starting a little after the smoke covered the place) before he intervened... I made a small change there hoping to fix it.**

 **2\. Touma's goal was to save Hinata, so that was all he did. From his point of view, anything Yuna and LIZARD was doing wrong was solved the moment the antenna got damaged, so he had no more reason to go after them. That's a thing about his character, he is extremely reactive to the incidents around him, but rarely proactive in order to avoid something that can happen in the near future (or at least that's my take on it).**

 **That's it for now. Thanks for the support and please leave a review if you have the time. I don't think I'll be able to post any other chapter this year, so Merry Christmas every one, And happy new year! See you guys next time!**


	18. Trojan Horse

**IV**

 **Chapter 18: Sparks of an Upcoming Storm**

 **Trojan_Horse**

 **Part 1**

Unknown time and location.

The room was eerily dark. Even "those two", who enjoyed dark places, were feeling uncomfortable by the overall atmosphere of the place. It was like a large hall devoid of all furniture besides the plastic chairs some were using to sit down and the table on the center of it all. There were also several cables running on the floor, but those hardly mattered compared to the amount of empty space. From there, it was impossible to see the walls or even the ceiling. The only source of light was the thin and wide monitor placed on the top of the table, displaying an experiment that was happening somewhere else in the city.

Actually, only those in white lab coats would call it an experiment. "Torture" and "massacre" would probably be the best words to use to describe what was going on. But "those two" were the only ones that could see the experiment by what it really was and feel disgusted by it.

The one on the left - a woman of about 25, wearing big round glasses and with her black hair tied in twin ponytails - leaned closer to her coworker and whispered without trying to hide her disapproval. "Look at those barbarians… they would probably watch this with their family during a Sunday afternoon over popcorn and soda. It feels like I'm surrounded by a bunch of brainless monkeys."

"Takayama-san, I wouldn't voice any complaints about those people here if I were you. What will you do if they happen to hear you?" The man on her side - which had darkish blue hair, several scars on his face, a mechanical left eye and wore a brown leather glove on his left hand - answered with a cold tone without taking his eyes from the graphs being displayed on the tablet device on his hands. "I understand how you feel. This isn't pleasant to me either. But we have no other choice since we lost the remaining "material" from the late Radio Noise project. So try and bear with it until we collect enough data."

The woman named Takayama could only sigh in resignation and turned her attention back to the screen. The experiment was lasting a little longer than the last one, but it seemed to be close to the end. The _specimen_ was deprived of its weapons and was utterly cornered by the _predator_. It tried to fight with the little power it had in hands, but it was a futile effort. The _predator_ simply brushed the attack off and closed in step by step, finally reaching the defenseless victim.

And then…

Takayama turned her head away, knowing what was about to come. She was glad that they were on the last row, so no one would notice her action. In order to distract herself, she focused on the graphs on the screen of the tablet of her coworker. A few of them had their values skyrocketing all of a sudden, while others kept oscillating on low levels. But it didn't took long until all of them decreased to 0 without showing any signals of raising again, which could only mean one thing: the experiment was over. A few of the researchers started talking on how it was a success, and how to improve the results for the next one, but the scarred face man only closed his single eye and sighed in dissatisfaction. "This was hardly enough. If they could at least last a little longer..."

"Well, their opponent IS the #1 after all, so nothing can be done about it."

"I know, but still..." He stopped right there. Continuing on this line of thought wouldn't help. There were a ton of "what ifs" he could argue over that would make their life easier, but he - and probably most of his team - had already gone over them a thousand of times. Even though their situation was dire, all they could do was try to make it work with the few they had in their hands.

 **Part 2**

August 5, 12:32 - The border between Districts 7 and 10.

An expansive looking limo came from the street that led to district 7 and parked right in front of a back alley. It couldn't possibly go further than this, since a vehicle of this port would attract unwanted attention in the streets of District 10.

Waiting in the alley was a brown haired boy wearing jeans and an open blue jacket over a white shirt, carrying a suitcase. If he was seen talking to the person that was inside the vehicle by the normal people of district 7, it would pick the attention of the curious eyes of the boys and girls living there.

In summary, this place was a perfect spot for the "transaction" that was about to happen.

Men in black suit left the limo and opened the last door of the vehicle, revealing the owner of such luxurious car.

The person in question was… rather short. Too short. Even shorter than Hinata. No matter how you looked at it, it was a boy that couldn't be older than 10. He wore a social shirt and brown shorts, while carrying a large notebook under his arm. He also had a childish looking school bag on his back, and it seemed that he was making a conscious effort to not show it too much.

The boy thanked the men and asked for one of them to follow him as he quickly approached the other male waiting on the back alley. "I assume you are Yamazaki Hishiro, correct? It's a pleasure to meet you in person."

The out of place sight summed with the unexpected polite way of talking took the older boy by off guard, but he did his best to not let it show. The less this kid could figure out about him, the better. "Y-yeah, that's me. So you're Aleat the info broker?"

"Surprised?" Asked the kid, making an expression of mockery to the older male.

"N-not really. I mean… maybe a bit."

"Do not worry, everyone reacts the same way when they first meet me." Answered Aleat while giggling. There were several urban legends surrounding him - like getting restricted information regarding the Tree Diagram, or digging out the dirt of the directors - but none of them ever mentioned him being so young. In fact, Hishiro was about doubt the legitimacy of most of those legends. A child wouldn't be able to do that, right?

Not noticing his doubts, Aleat sat on the dirty ground without a second thought and opened his notebook. "I don't have much time, so let's get straight to business, shall we? I assume you have the payment ready?"

"Here." Hishiro cut out his line of thought there and threw the heavy suitcase forward. It didn't matter if that kid hadn't actually done any of those things as long as he could do what Hishiro had hired him for.

While typing on the portable computer, Aleat made a hand signal and the man in black reached for the suitcase, checking its contents. "Master, it seems to have even more than the accorded value."

"Consider it an extra to guarantee my privacy." Said Hishiro nonchalantly, making the kid raise an eyebrow.

"That was unexpected. Usually my clients try to bargain at every given opportunity. Sometimes I am even forced to use… some inconvenient methods to make them pay."

"I-I see..." The older boy thought it would be for the best to not ask for details. "Money isn't a problem for me. As long as you can find what I'm looking for, I'm willing to pay your price for it."

"That is good to know." Aleat stopped typing and flipped the notebook so both could see the screen. "Please take a look at this."

Hishiro got closer and crouched down to get a better view. The first thing that caught his attention was the picture on the top left of the screen. It was a person's portrait. A young girl's portrait to be more precise. She had a long platinum blond hair with a flower shaped red ribbon, eyes with a tone of light blue that almost seemed to be gray, wore a pink one piece dress with white cats stamped on the sides… he recognized who it was and had to keep his emotions in check to keep the conversation going. "Yes… there's no mistake, this is definitively her."

"Your confirmation comes as both a relief and a surprise." Said the boy with a satisfied and prideful smile. "With the little information you gave me to start looking, it was quite difficulty to find those files."

"Sorry about that. All I really had was her nickname from back then and… the experiment that went wrong."

"Not having her name was sure an obstacle, but not the biggest of the problems. The worse of all was the institute you mentioned that was supposed to take care of Child Errors."

Hishiro tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well… it officially never existed."

The older male felt shocked. The facility they were talking about was an orphanage dedicated to receive, take care and research rare cases of Child Errors that, for one reason or another, developed abilities that deviated from the expected by the Parameter List - which was the place where Hishiro lived during a part of his childhood, alongside with his friend Lilly whose picture was still being displayed on the screen. Supposedly, all the responsibilities that place held was to give those children a proper place to live and study, and then take them thrice a week to the many affiliated labs to take care of the rest.

Being related to Child Errors, it wouldn't be a surprise to him if it was somehow connected to the darkness and had no official registration, but… "No, this can't be right. I checked it myself more than once in the past. I wasn't able to find anything about the people living there, but there were all those signed documents and authorizations for it to be running."

"But it still lacked several crucial details needed for it to be called 'official'. According to the files in the database, the facility was nothing but an empty terrain. A project that never went forward despite being approved."

"T-that… can't be... how…"

"Yes, it is indeed strange. I went there myself during my investigation. Even though the terrain is now used for a whole new purpose, there were traces of the old building that match the blueprints submitted for its construction."

This only showed Hishiro how amateurish his own investigation regarding the matter had been so far. "Then… where did her registration file came from?"

The kid wore a serious expression and pointed to the screen. "Please take a closer look at it."

Taking his eyes away from the picture for a moment, the brown haired boy started actually reading the file. First of all, he caught a glimpse of her name: Evelina Rosenberg. _Ah… I never knew that. So she was a foreigner after all._ Then her blood type, Esper ability, level, body measurements… the list went on and on until he finally found the name of the institution she was officially enrolled with. "Nagatenjouki Academy?"

"The same school attended by Academy City's #1: Accelerator. With a power such as hers, I found it to be quite intriguing. Are you absolutely sure she never took lessons there?"

"No, that's impossible. All children were taught within the facility and only left for the experiments and ability tests. Maybe that's where she was taken to for those? No, it doesn't makes sense either..."

"Indeed. Because if that was the case, then the whole academy would be nothing but a _massive crater_ nowadays."

Those words were like a cold stab for Hishiro. Not noticing it, Aleat took the opportunity and changed the window on the notebook to another file. Instead of a person's portrait, that one had an eerie picture of destroyed building. Hishiro had seen it many times in the past. It was the place where said accident happened. "I also gathered information regarding the event, though it gets even more strange here. There is a lot of mismatching material and is almost impossible to tell which one is accurate, but after comparing them all, it's most likely that someone tried to forcefully turn her into a level 5, causing an RSPK syndrome, which resulted in what you are currently seeing."

"... does it mention anywhere who was the one behind it?"

"Like I said, it is difficult to validate the content of those files-"

"I got it, but even if it's not correct, it's still better than nothing." The cold tone of the older male's voice made Aleat sigh and resign.

"I suspect it was Kihara Gensei or someone in a position really close to his."

"... I see." Hishiro bit his lip and tried to calm down. There was something more important he had to confirm. "And the number of victims?"

"Another mystery. However, the mismatched information in this case may be because it was difficult to count the bodies. The official report states the 100 people had died, but some of the staff that was not inside the facility the moment the explosion happened said there was 88 people inside the building, and they had found traces of all of their bodies, so that must be the actual number."

"All of them? That doesn't include Lilly herself, right?"

"Huh? Uh..." The kid obviously wasn't expecting that and had to look into the file before answering. "Now that you mention it… no, her body was not among… wait, could it be that you believe the girl is alive?"

"..." He couldn't answer it right away. He already knew the truth of it, but it was difficult for him to admit it. "... no. No one could have survived that. But still… it always bugged me that her body was the only one that left no trace behind."

"Hmm… she was at the very center of the phenomenon, so it is not impossible."

"Though the people that were close by were still found..." The two of them fell silent, thinking if there was some kind of meaning behind this. Hishrio gave up eventually, knowing that they wouldn't get anywhere without more clues. "Anyway, that's enough for now. I don't want to take much more of your time."

Aleat then took a small USB drive from the notebook and handed it to Hishiro. "I will look into her body disappearance in more detail for the next time."

"Sure. Feel free to contact me anytime if you find something."

Bowing to the older male one more time, the kid turned around and went into the black limo followed by his bodyguard. Hishiro made sure to wait until the vehicle was gone to head back to his apartment.

 **Part 3**

August 5, 5:50 PM - Hishiro's hideout in district 10

The PC was turned on with the external drive plugged in and the files were being displayed on screen, but Hishiro was no longer reading it anymore. He was lying on the mattress, covering his eyes with his forearm. Though he had learned a lot about the incident, the main question was still unanswered. _Not that I expected it to be that easy._

While reading, he couldn't help but recall that time of his life, and that always gave him an unbearable headache when his mind drifted to the memories of the day of the accident. Which is why he had spent the last 3 hours there without moving a muscle. The pain was weaker by now, but it showed no signs of going away any time soon. Still, he refused to waste any more time like this and forced himself to stand up. There was an unpleasant feeling of sweat covering all of his body, which was unusual for someone like him that had his body temperature unconsciously held in check all the time. Ignoring it, he grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator and headed outside to breathe some fresh air.

…

While walking aimlessly on the streets to cool his head, he caught someone with the corner of his eye. "Huh? That just now was..."

He approached the figure from behind, trying to confirm who it was without getting their attention. It was a girl with a short brown hair wearing a Tokiwadai uniform. That was enough for him to know who it was, but there was still more. Namely the military goggles on the top of her head and the giant instrument case on her back. "What is the Railgun doing here in district 10?"

He kept following her from a safe distance for a while until she made a turn and headed into a back alley. _Where is she going? Places like this are a nest for Skill Outs..._ Split between stopping her or just keep watching, he let his guard down for a moment and she sent a quick glance to him just before disappearing on the corner.

"She… ignored me?" Remembering what happened during their last conversation at the hospital, the hypothesis seemed unlikely. The girl had let him go back then because of her friend that fell victim of the Level Upper, but if given another opportunity, Hishiro doubted that he would escape so easily. "Well, that's for the best, but still… something feels wrong here."

But he wouldn't have much time to be bothered by that. His modified cellphone started ringing with the annoying melody that ruined his peace, informing that another battlefield awaited for him. "Tsk… now? Really? *Sigh* my head still hurts..."

...

The lone girl in the alley was afraid she had been followed, but after checking it twice, that boy was nowhere to be seen. "It was probably just a coincidence - says Misaka as she feels relieved that she won't have to deal with outsiders during the experiment."

 **Part 4**

August 5, 7:50 PM - West side of District 19

"Are you sure that is the place, Asuka? No matter how I look at it, this can't be anything but a laboratory."

"Trust me, the amount of containers they received today leaves no room for mistake. They are using the facility as a storehouse of some sort."

Hishiro was currently on the top of an abandoned building, using special binoculars to observe that night's target. According to Asuka, it seemed like some high end equipment that was supposed to be used in a secret research got diverted and stored inside that laboratory. Alongside it, several deliveries were made to that same location earlier that day, all of them officially containing electronics and mechanical parts. So far she wasn't able to tell for sure if all of that was to give a cover for the stolen equipment or if someone was intending to build something with all of it.

The mission was to infiltrate, confirm if item in question was indeed stored there and, if so, destroy it. Hishiro alone couldn't possibly take it back, and there was the risk that the equipment had been modified or sabotaged, so their only option was to get rid of it.

"Still… how am I supposed to get in there? The security is unusually tight for such a worn out place…"

"Don't let the appearances trick you, Shiro. They probably let facade decay on purpose to match the surrounding buildings." Asuka reassured him while typing on her keyboard nonstop. "You can leave the cameras, alarms, electric fences, sensors, automatic turrets, electronic locks, security robots and scouting drones to me. All you have to do is bypass the guards patrol."

"What is this place, an ancient Egypt temple? Don't tell me there are going to be spike traps, boulders and snakes chasing me as well?"

"No, but I guess it would be easier for you to handle those with your ability. Have you ever considered becoming an archaeologist?"

"You do know that this is not what archaeologists actually do, right?" Rubbing his temples, he put Asuka's jokes asides for a moment and watched the movements of the guards, looking for a hole in their rounds. "Can you give me a detailed chart on their patrols as well, or would that be asking for too much?"

"Yes and yes. You know I can do it, but why? Have you develop a fetish of overworking me or something?"

"No… sorry, it's just that I'm not feeling very well. I can't get enough focus to map their patterns in my head right now."

"Hm? It's rare for you to come down with something… should we cancel the mission?"

"No need to take it this far, I can still get it done. I just need a better laid out path to follow."

"If you say so..." None of them exchanged words for a few minutes until Asuka was done with his request and sent him which route to go. "There. This should keep you out of trouble. But don't overdo it. If you feel you can't go on, head back immediately, okay?"

Without answering, Hishiro stretched his back and rubbed his eyes one last time before heading towards the stairs leading to the lower floors.

With Asuka's map in hands, he easily made his way through the security system without being noticed. All he needed to do was to pay a bit of attention to his surroundings to see if there were any guards moving slower or faster than expected. _I know that asking this of her was too much, but seriously, I could get used to this._ It didn't take long for him to reach the door and getting inside the facility. If everything was to go according to the plans, there shouldn't be anyone inside and all of the security devices should have been disabled. This mission was as good as done thanks to Asuka.

…

"A-attention all units! Intruders have just broken through the south gate and taken out six of our men! Requesting immediate support! Repea- ahhh… AAHHHHH!" Before the guard could finish, his whole body got covered by paper sheets. He tried to resist, but after half a minute, he ran out of breath and suffocated. The papers then left his body free to collapse down on the concrete floor and went back to their owner: a young girl with purple hair that was completely naked. Slowly covering her body, the paper sheets turned into a maid maid uniform with a bunny tail.

"Leader, it's all clear here!" She shouted and waved to the small group composed of two girls waiting a little far back.

The said leader had short brown hair, wore a short-sleeved shirt, shorts and a white flu mask with two black crossed hands printed on it. The other one following close behind wore a blouse, black spats, a belt and a brown cap that hid most of her hair.

"Did you kill him, Naru?" Said the Leader, approaching the unconscious man.

"You asked me to not to, so I didn't."

"Good." After making sure he was still alive, she turned to the other girl. "Yakumaru, tie him up and check his radio… though it's probably not working as well"

"Okay, but why keeping them alive, Leader? Wouldn't be easier to just eliminate them?"

"Usually, yes, but this time we are not supposed to harm the official personal on the outside. We're free to rampage at will inside though. Also..." She made a small pause and held her chin with her right hand. "Something is weird. The whole security system seems to be out."

"But isn't that a good thing? It makes our job way easier!" Said Naru innocently.

"Yes and no… but never mind, you wouldn't understand anyway." Answered Yakumaru before turning to her leader again. "That's why you left Seike behind, right? To give us cover in case anything happens. So I think we should just get going. The faster we finish, the less time we are putting ourselves in risk."

"That's right." Agreed the leader. "Alright Scavenger! Time to get this party started!"

* * *

 **Hello, ladies and gentleman! We are starting the new year with a new arc right off the bat! Well… not exactly, we are already in February… I'm 1 day too late to post this, my deadline was January 31, but I guess it was close enough.**

 **To be honest, I spent most of my free time planning rather than writing. I had the beginning of the story very clear on my mind, but I left empty spots from the middle onwards on purpose. Why? Because I could adapt it on the go accordingly with the releases of the series, which in this case, opened doors for Scavenger to make their appearance! Well… again, they aren't exactly new, but I fell behind on the Railgun and Accelerator mangas and just caught up recently. Long story short, I didn't knew about them when I first started writing, but now I do and believe they fit this scenario perfectly.**

 **Anyway, this was a huge build up chapter. Get ready because things in the Dark Side of Science are going to get messy from now on. Also, I managed to slip in a bit about Hishiro's past there, something I've been wanting to do for a while now. I actually left some hints last arc, so I hope this didn't came off as too sudden.**

 **So, let's move on to the replies:**

 **Guest (1): Yeah, I decided to skip the Deep Blood arc for two reasons. First, the story there is airtight, there's no room for a backstage. Second, the last arc had a lot of magic already, so I thought it would be for the best to balance things out and go for a more scientific arc… (not saying there will be absolutely nothing about magic this time)**

 **Guest (2): The idea is that Hishiro will be involved in most of the incidents of the series, but will never be part of the main events. Just like the Sisters arc that has two sides: one from Touma's point of view and another from Mikoto's. Hishiro will have his own side of these stories that will have connections to the main one.**

 **As for the number of chapters… well, that's a tough question. I'll give you a raw estimative based on how things have gone so far and say about 70~80 chapters. My intention is to keep this going for a long time, but I have a clear ending point in mind.**

 **This is it for now. Thanks for those supporting me, specially for those that left a review! See you next time!**


	19. Maze of Lab Rats

**IV**

 **Chapter 19: Scavengers in the Labyrinth of Darkness**

 **Maze_of_Lab_Rats**

 **Part 1**

 _*ZAP*_

And all of a sudden, the lights went out. The only thing that illuminated the corridors were the weak emergency lights on the edges of the floor. "I really hope this is Asuka's doing… but I don't remember her mentioning this at all."

Yes, it was nothing but a baseless hopeful wish that would only get him killed. Someone probably noticed Hishiro's presence and was now taking action against him. He picked his revolver and set a grenade ready in his pocket just in case as he progressed through the facility, while following the blueprints provided by Asuka. But that didn't work as well as he expected.

 _A dead end? There shouldn't be a wall here… did they reformed this place? Or they never followed the blueprints in the first place?_ Thinking about it wouldn't help. The fact was that his only map was unreliable, meaning that he had to somehow search for the damn container in every inch of the building without being caught. Laughing at his own misfortune, he turned around and started drawing a map of his own on his phone while walking. That seemed like a good idea at first but...

"Huh? What the…?" Another wall that shouldn't be there. But not according with the blueprints. This path was supposed to be the one Hishiro had gone through just a minute ago. "Did I made a mistake somewhere?" His head was still a bit fuzzy, so it was possible he just went into a different direction. He marked the wall on his map and turned around one more time, intending to follow another path. But even that proved to be impossible.

"Okay, I definitely just passed by here. How come the path is blocked now?" The answer wasn't a difficult one, but was one he didn't wanted to accept. The only possible explanation for this was that these walls could open and close when given some kind of command. Which meant someone was aware he was there, and worse, they could control where he could or could not go, or just trap him inside altogether. _But for that to work, they need to know exactly where I am at all times. How can they detect me if Asuka disabled the cameras and sensors? I doubt she failed, so they are probably using some other method. I need to find out what it is before they try to eliminate me!_

Reaching this conclusion, Hishiro took off running, hoping to outspeed the path changes and ruin any traps the person behind it could have set for him. He turned in random directions and kept his eyes open for anything that could hint on what was being used to observe him. It took about a minute and half until he reached a dead end. Without wasting any time, he dashed out again, but this time following a planned route according to the blueprints, which involved going through some rooms with more than one entrance. This action resulted into all rooms having their doors locked after he went past the third, and he managed to go on for fair three minutes.

After giving a bit of thought to those results, he let out a small giggle. _I don't really know how they are doing it, but it is a really inefficient method. It is as if they are predicting my route and closing the paths based on that instead of monitoring me directly, which probably left room for mistakes. If that's the case, then I can roam freely as long as I misguide their judgment._

 **Part 2**

"Aaand... all done." Said the capped girl - Yakumaru - just as she finished pouring the bluish liquid inside the fuse box. Just as she wanted, all lights went out immediately after, with the exception of the emergency lights near the floor. "Hmmm… it seems like the cables for those are elsewhere else. Should we look for it?"

"No, that should be enough." Answered the Leader. "Cutting the main power supply will put them in disarray already. The security system is off too, there's no point in wasting our time on the emergency energy system." She then went to check the location of their goal and planned a route of action. "Alright, let's get going. And be ready to smash anything that moves on our way."

"Gotcha!" Naru replied with a smile while punching her own palm. Probably due to having to hold back before, she was eager to enter in action as soon as possible, keeping an eye open for a possible pray at every corner. That's why she was the first one to notice. "...eh?"

"What is it, Naru?"

"That wall over there." She pointed towards a corridor leading to a dead end and continued. "I think I saw it coming down from the ceiling."

Only Yakumaru was concerned at first, but hearing that, even the Leader stopped on her tracks and asked for a confirmation. "Are you sure of that?"

"Hmmm… could it be my imagination?" Answered the girl innocently as she tilted her head to the side.

The leader went into the corridor followed by the other two and checked the wall from one side to the other. "There doesn't seem to be anything different on it but… it is really weird to have a path leading to nowhere. Hmm… it's better to be safe than sorry. Naru, try to take this one down."

"Sure." And then, the paper maid uniform suddenly shape shifted into a huge bunny armor (which ironically exposed a lot of her skin) and tackled the wall with all her might, causing the whole place to shake from the impact. But the wall was still intact.

"Yup, looks pretty solid." Commented the Leader after checking the wall one more time.

Yakumaru scratched her cheek and smiled wryly after recovering from the shockwave. "It is actually kind of amazing that it stood still after that, even if the wall wasn't fake."

The Leader agreed with a nod, knocking on the wall a few times before turning around. "Good thing it was just a fake alarm. It would be really troublesome if-"

Before she had time to finish, part of the ceiling started to move down a few meters behind them. At this rate, they would be completely trapped in that corridor. The leader was the first one to react, dashing towards it and pulling Yakumaru with her. "Naru!"

The third girl (still with the bunny armor on) understood the command right away, jumping forward and holding the lowering ceiling in place so the other two could get through in time. Once they did, she left the armor behind and jumped to the other side of the moving wall, calling it back later on as it reconstructed her clothes sheet by sheet again.

Wiping the sweat of her forehead, the Leader finally allowed her body to relax. "That was close..."

"No kidding…" Agreed the capped girl, sitting down and rubbing her ankle.

"Ya-kun, are you alright?"

"Yes, don't worry. I just took a bad step- wait, Naru! If you get this close I can get quite a view from down here, you know! By the way, aren't your clothes shorter than usual?"

"You think so? I couldn't get all of the paper back before the path got closed, but I thought it didn't made that much of a difference."

"Okay, okay, stop messing around you two." Clapping her hands once, the Leader got the attention of the other two. "We are going to get in trouble if we don't get moving fast."

"True." Agreed Yakumaru as she stood up. "We escaped this time, be these walls could trap us at any time"

"But wasn't the security system off? And Ya-kun did cut off the power..."

"Naru is right, Leader. This is weird. I doubt there could be any automatic security system working on the emergency energy supply."

"Hmm..." The short flu masked girl placed a hand on her chin and thought for a moment as she started walking again, followed by her teammates. "Then these are manual and totally mechanic security measures, but even if that's the case, they must have a general idea of our position in order to prepare a trap like that one just now. And with no power for the security cameras, the only possibility I can think of is.."

"An esper."

"Exactly. You two better be ready. We might get company very soon."

 **Part 3**

After wandering around in the facility for several minutes, Hishiro discovered three important things.

First, there seemed to be a limit on how many walls could be lowered at a time. He noticed that, after taking detours, some paths that were blocked before became open for no apparent reason. This worked on his favor, as he would be totally out of options if all walls were lowered at once.

Second, despite of the first rule, all routes leading to the basement were blocked, which made the mission basically impossible to complete without first dealing with whoever was messing with the interior layout of the building.

And third, his persistence obviously pissed someone off badly, as now he was being chased down by people wearing red suits with states and jets on several parts of their bodies. They didn't had any weapons and weren't that protected against bullets, but their mobility was troublesome. Getting enough speed from the jets, they could freely dash along the walls, and with their skates, they could bend their bodies to avoid incoming attacks and obstacles while keeping their speed. The ideal way to deal with such type of enemy in a closed environment would be facing it head on at close range, where all its tools would be rendered useless. But if Hishiro were to do that against so many of them, he would get overpowered by their numbers in no time. That's why he was forced to place himself into disadvantage by running away while being pursued.

And of course, he couldn't possibly outspeed them on foot. He did manage to keep them from reaching him easily by taking turns at every chance he got, forcing them to slow down, but that was hardly enough.

As the boy ran with all his might, two pursuers caught up with him eventually and tried to tackle him down. Noticing it, he suddenly stopped on his tracks, making them crash on each other and drift on the floor all the way to the wall at the end of the corridor. But his actions didn't stop there. He turned around in a flash and shot several times before starting his dash again. The pursuers managed to avoid the projectiles with ease, making the resistance seem pointless. However, they overlooked the small explosives Hishiro had set up on the floor, which caused a brutal blast once they got near enough. With nowhere to go in such a closed space, the shockwave traveled at a tremendous speed on the corridors and took down most of the pursuers. Even Hishiro himself, who had managed to get quite some distance from it, felt the heat and the violent wind push his body from behind, almost making him trip and roll on the floor. _This was effective, but it won't work a second time. I can't keep tricking them forever._

While turning on another corner, he operated his cellphone trying to find what could possibly be the control room within the blueprints. _If I can get there, I can both open the path to the basement and use whoever is there as a hostage to get rid of those speed maniacs. Yup, that sounds satisfying._

However, he made the mistake of not paying enough attention to the path he was walking, thus he took way too long to notice he had trapped himself in a dead end. Clicking his tongue, the boy turned around and prepared to fight his way through the horde coming at him. With his back literally against the wall, he held both of his guns pointing forward and activated his ability, creating a distorted field on the floor. When the pursuers' feet came in contact with it, they were unable to handle the sudden slow down of their lower bodies and fell forward like dominoes. But because of the skates, they just kept coming at him as if nothing had happened.

"Rgh! To hell with that!" Shouting that, Hishiro squeezed the triggers of his guns one after the other nonstop. With so many of them moving forward on a belly dive position, there wasn't enough space for them to avoid the bullets, resulting in lots of pained groans and blood splatters - specially when they were hit by the AMCP. He would probably get most (if not all) of them like that if he had not ran out of bullets midway. There was no time to reload, the eight enemies remaining were approaching too fast. He took a stance and braced himself. _I need to somehow take these down, or at least find a chance to escape… It's not gonna work, is it?_

It was then that the situation suddenly changed.

An explosion happened behind the pursuers, sending them all flying towards Hishiro who threw himself on the floor to avoid getting hit. All of them struck the wall at full force and fell down unconscious besides the brown haired boy. "What… the hell just happened?" Looking at the source of the blast, he saw three girls running in his direction while being followed by a dozen of those red suits. "Oh no..."

...

Yakumaru dropped a couple of test tubes, which broke once they hit the floor and caused another blast in an attempt of slowing the pursuers down. "Leader! I can't keep doing this forever, and there's a dead end ahead!"

"We can't win against so many of them, turning back is not an option! And our goal is ahead of us! Prepare the strongest explosion you can make! You too Naru! We're breaking through!"

"Roger!"

"Okay~*!"

On their leader's command, the capped girl picked up two sphere like objects from her belt while the giant bunny girl concentrated the highest amount of paper mass on her right fist and both charged towards the wall without caring about whatever (or whoever) was in the way. Both the fist and spheres caused a massive explosion upon contact with the obstacle that shook the whole facility, causing the emergency lights fickle and parts of the ceiling to collapse. Still, the wall was not completely destroyed. All they managed to do was to tear an opening in the middle of it. Naru could barely believe her eyes when she saw that. "No way… we went all out and that's it?"

"That will have to do. We will have to go through that hole one by one!" Shouted the Leader as she started to climb into the hole. Being the smaller of the three helped this time and she went through without problem.

Meanwhile, Naru took the front line and used her paper to block the path of the incoming enemies. "I'll hold them here! You go next, Ya-kun!"

Reluctantly, Yakumaru ran for the gap in the metal wall and tried to squeeze herself into it while th Leader on the other side had to pull her in to help her make it. Once she was done, the bunny girl distracted the pursuers with another paper bomb and went for the passage as well (needless to say, she changed back to her maid outfit to get through the wall).

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't make it in time and one of the red suits grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her while she was halfway in. "Wha-?! Let me gooo!"

"Naru!" Yakumaru reacted fast and held both of her friends arms before she could be pulled off the hole. The result was a human tug-o-war with half her body on each side of the wall, but probably due to the suit, the pursuer was slowly managing to drag her out of it.

Until…

* _BANG!*_

Following the deafening noise, blood splattered on Naru's legs as the person in suit fell limp on the floor, letting go of her feet. Without understanding what had happened, the girls heard an unknown male voice from the other side of the wall. "No matter how despaired you are, this is no way to pick up a girl. Do you have a wall stuck fetish or something? Despicable..."

"W-who's there?!" Asked Naru, unable to see the source of the voice from that position.

"Never mind that, just move quick! They are still coming! I can't escape if you block the way like that!" Answered the male. Besides his voice, several gunshots could be heard from the other side of the wall. Yakumaru and the Leader wasted no time and pulled their friend with all their might with no success. The maid girl got into a bad position due to having her legs suddenly pulled and now she couldn't move an inch.

"NNNNGhhh-! S-stop! You're going to tear my arms away! It's no use, I'm totally stuck!"

The male clicked his tongue loudly. He had joked about that just a moment ago and now it came back to bite him. "You gotta be kidding me..."

"Hey, you! Stop complaining and help out by pushing her from your side!" Suggested the leader.

"What? How do you expect me to do that!?"

"Quick, just do it! I don't want to be stuck here forever!"

…

 _Thank god Asuka can't see me now… At least I hope she can't._ Hishiro prayed that repeatedly on his mind as he shot down another enemy and wiped the blood on his forehead. The girl's attacks summed with his own put the pursuer in disarray (as well as hurting him and burying him in a pile of corpses), giving him an opening, but it wouldn't take long before they all came at him again. Taking this opportunity, he turned around, facing the girl that had everything from her hips downwards sticking from the wall and… _No, seriously, how the heck am I supposed to do that?!_

"Hurry up!"

"G-gimme a second." He was at a complete loss before the scene in front of him, but if he just waited and did nothing, he could end up getting killed. _Okay, calm down… All I have to do is to push her. Just put all your strength in a single push and get it over with as fast as possible._

For the sake of keeping Naru's pride and image, there won't be a detailed description as to how Hishiro decided to do it. With his help, she moved a bit but not enough to free her. "It's working! Do it again, but harder this time!"

With one last push, Naru was released and fell forward on the other side. With the gap finally unoccupied, Hishiro crawled his way through it as fast as he could just before the pursuers reached the wall again. Once he left the hole, he aimed his guns at it and unloaded them without mercy until they finally stopped trying to get through as well.

 **Part 4**

After running away from the the area, the four intruders were finally overcome by fatigue and laid down on the floor lit by the weak led lights. For a while, no one dared to say a word. After all, one of these four were not from the group. They only helped each other due to how the situation had developed during the battle. So they agreed on this truce until they recovered their stamina without even needing to talk.

However, this was nothing but a facade. Hishiro knew that his situation was dire and kept his mind running while he rested his body. _These girls aren't here just for a walk. Given the circumstances, I bet that they have are after the cargo being stored here. If their goal clash to mine and they turn out to be enemies, I'll be in a huge disadvantage here. Damn... it's just like the USB drive incident all over again. At least my headache is gone._

In this situation, it was crucial for Hishiro to identify the other party as an enemy or not before they did, so he took the initiative and broke the silence. "We escaped by a hair just now..."

"That was the second time for us, actually..." Answered the flu masked girl. There was no hostility in their voices, but they were both on their guard.

"I see… I wonder what were those things anyway? They looked like powered suits, but they weren't that strong or resistant."

The capped girl sat up and explained. "For me, they looked like modified Queen Divers… though if that's the case, the staff must be really desperate to get rid of us. These are old models developed one or two years ago that had several issues and was only useful against some type of esper... but I don't remember exactly which one. I had seen them only once before, so I don't know the details. In summary, it's just a pile of trash tech."

"Ugh… they way you said it made me a bit angry that I had to go through all that because of them, Ya-kun."

The careless conversation between them confirmed that the mood was lighter now. Hishiro took the opportunity to try and talk his way out of this. "Well, what happens now? I'm sure we all know that none of us is here just for a walk, and I would rather avoid having to fight again so soon."

"Well, we were going to dispose of anyone inside, but you did save Naru while holding your own against that many of them. This is an unusual situation..." Said the Leader, resting her chin on her hand. "Who are you and what are you doing here in the first place?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer any of those..."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in your secrets or anything. I just want to make sure our jobs aren't going to get in the way of each other."

"In that case, can't you say what your goal is first?"

"Nice try, but that won't do."

"Figured as much..." It wasn't amusing that she was talking as if she held the game on her hands, but he couldn't exactly complain given their numerical advantage. "There's the word that this place is guarding something that wasn't supposed to be here. I just need to make sure that whoever is behind this won't get to use it no matter what."

"Oh, isn't that the same as us?" Naru spilled the beans before the Leader could answer, which earned her a few cold glances.

"We were contracted by the true owner of the cargo to recover it."

"Guess that's our lucky day then. We both could use a bit more of manpower, right?"

Following Hishiro, The leader stood up and walked towards him, extending her hand. "Sure. Then shall we cooperate for the time being?"

The boy did the same, accepting the hand shake with an innocent looking face. "Of course!"

The two of them smiled at each other and held each other's hand for a while. But in truth…

 _He is lying. Well, whatever. I'll just use his skills until we reach the cargo and then take care of him before he has the chance doing anything._

 _She is not buying it. It would be okay if she really took it to the original owner, but I have no guarantee that is their real intention. Killing her right now is dangerous because the other two are way too strong. I need to plan carefully when I'm going to strike._

The other two could just stare blankly as invisible sparks raged between them until they finally let go.

 **Between the Lines**

Unknown time - LIZARD Headquarters

Led by Yuna, Hideaki was taken to a large office on the penultimate floor of a business business building on the edge of District 7. Among all the fancy furniture there, what undoubtedly caught his eyes the most was the table with 3 expansive monitors and several paper sheets scattered on it on the opposite corner of the room. Behind it was a boy with spiky red hair wearing messy clothes sitting on a luxurious chair with his legs crossed over the table while eating an apple as he paid attention on what was being displayed on the left screen.

"Please sit down." Said the boy pointing to a small chair without even batching an eye on Hideaki. The older male did as he was told, since he was in no position to refuse even if he wanted to. "I was really looking forward to meet you, professor… Hideaki, right?"

"Unfortunately, I can not say the same for you, mister Overseer." Hideaki spoke in a menacing tone, probably trying to scare the younger male, but all it did was amuse the boy who set the apple aside, put his feet down and leaned on the table.

"Hehe, and you're right to not to. Well, at least you shouldn't if the circumstances were different. Relax, you're my honor guest today. No need to be so nervous. Want a drink?" And the kid actually pulled a bottle of wine from beneath the table and opened it with his bare hands, serving two glasses that Hideaki couldn't quite tell if they were there before or not.

"N-no, I'm fine. More importantly, aren't you too young to be drinking that?"

"Yes. And I'm also too young to be on the position I am right now. And too young to ask of you what I am about to." Answered him while shrugging with a expression that screamed "it can't be helped" before continuing. "No need to be so polite, drink it. It's good stuff, trust me."

Hideaki was going to refuse once again, but after thinking again about his own position, it would be for the best to not go against what this person said. Still, he regretted his decision the moment he took a sip of it. The liquid seemed to be just like regular wine at first glance, but the flavor was actually way stronger than anything he had ever tasted in his life, making him almost spit it out. He tried to hide his reaction by swallowing fast and slowly place the glass on the table again, just to find out that the kid had emptied his glass all at once.

"Anyway, I would love to kill some time, but I'm a busy person, so I'll go straight to the point." Said the Overseer, making a serious face for once. "I heard everything about you from Yuna. I know about the little rebellious group you led not long ago. To be frank, we aren't much different from each other, you and I."

"Where are you getting at?"

"This city is corrupt, professor. You know that very well, don't you? A lot of conspiracies happening beneath the carpet and atrocities being made in the name of science… when not even that is true, as there are political interests involved in them, forcing them to happen the way they do, no matter how many have to suffer because of it. That's why you decided to rebel. Right, _Kihara_ Hideaki?"

The emphasis given to the last part made Hideaki brows twitch slightly, but the Overseer continued without giving him time to say anything. "I respect your decision. However, your methods were too inefficient, and you didn't have enough resources. You may be a genius in many areas, but strategic thinking is not one of them. Which is why I'm going to offer you a second chance." The boy stood up, walked towards the window and spread his arms open. "I have everything you lacked. Money, manpower, influence, the perfect plan to take control of this city and the means to fix it once I do that. There's only one small piece of this whole puzzle left to make it all possible - and that's where you come in."

"And why I should believe in your words? I am not willing to offer any help without-"

"Calm down, let's do this one step at a time, okay? I'll prove my intentions to you in the given time, just like I did to Yuna. But our conversation today is about why YOU are important in all of this."

Sighing in resignation, the older male dropped the subject and asked what he was more curious about. "In that case, what do you need me to do?"

A satisfied smirk appeared on the boy's face, seeing that Hideaki intended to cooperate for now. "Come with me. It'll be easier to just show you first hand instead."

…

"What… is the meaning of this?!"

Hideaki could only shout in astonishment in front of this scene. The Overseer had taken him to the underground floors of the building. After walking through the white corridors of the facility, they had reached the researchment room, which contained several machine and chemicals, but none of them mattered to him. None except the one at the very end.

It was a capsule-like machine filled with a fluorescent transparent orange liquid. And dived in the fluid there was a body of a girl attached to several cables and tubes, floating in fetal position.

"This, my friend, is the key of our success." Answered the spiky haired boy with a wide smile on his face. "She is a prototype of STUDY's little project, but they discarded her once they managed to create a more stable subject without knowing the true value she holds."

"This does not matter! How do you expect me to help your cause-"

"BEFORE you make precipitated conclusions, you should take a look on this." Interrupting Hideaki, the boy handed him a couple of paper sheets. "It's just a summary, but it'll give you a better idea of what she is."

If he could, he would had thrown those papers on the floor and stepped over them while leaving everything here behind. But he couldn't. Not because he feared for his life, but because Yuna was working under this boy now. Her fate was basically on his hands. That was mostly the reason behind why she was chosen to break him out of the reformatory - to put this pressure on him. Even though his reason was telling him to not look at it, he had no choice but take the documents and read its contents.

And by then, it was too late to regret doing so.

 _This… this is…! C-certainly, using something like this, it would be possible to… but to go this far would be…_

"So, what do you think?" Asked the Overseer, already knowing the answer by just looking at the other man's expression.

Still shocked, he took a while to answer. "A-are you really willing to go through with this?"

"Of course. It would be stupid to simply ignore an opportunity like this one."

"But..."

"Listen, Hideaki-kun. Our enemy is more powerful than us, and is willing to use the lowest tricks they can to keep things going on their favor. We can't expect to defeat them without playing dirty. You can understand that, right? It is a necessary evil for a greater good."

He didn't answered this time. The conflict was clear on his eyes. _If we did that, how much better would we be than the ones we are antagonizing? But… is there even another way? If I reject this, would there ever be another chance? And even if there would, there is the risk of it being even worse than this one._

Seeing that the professor wouldn't make his mind, the younger male sighed and turned around, walking towards the machine and placing his hand on the glass as if petting it. "We need her to be complete in about a month. But right now, we have no one capable of doing this. The only ones that probably have the knowledge and skills to stabilize her are Kihara Gensei and his apprentices. Well, Gensei is missing, and Kiyama Harumi is beyond our reach. That leaves you as our last hope. What do you say, Kihara Hideaki?"

"How… do you know about that?" The boy didn't even looked back at him and just kept his hands on the machine. "All I ever did was observe. Unlike Kiyama-san, I never participated in his researches and experiments. I may not be able to accomplish what you expect of me."

"You'll never know unless you try."

Hideaki lowered his head and clenched his fists, kneading the paper on his hands. He knew what was the right thing to do, but something was just born within him that conflicted with his ideals and he couldn't ignore it. This, summed to his curiosity, was what would trail the path he would take from there on, regardless of the consequences.

* * *

 **And this is yet another short-to-be chapter that blew out of proportion and forced me to split it in two. I just can't help it but keep adding the ideas I come up with on the go because it's just too fun to mess with different characters!**

 **And for anyone wondering as for why there was no Between the Lines in the last chapter, here's a fun fact: half of this one was supposed to be on the last chapter but… I somehow messed up when I uploaded the file. Sorry for that XP. Good thing I keep backups, I'm not sure if I could keep the atmosphere as it should be if I had to rewrite it. I'll leave the meaning of the contents for your speculation and move on to the replies**

 **Guest: Whoops, I misread what you asked… lol. But no, the Deep Blood arc will be left out. I guess you can already guess which arc this is going to be about, right? Then again… thinking about it, I might be able to salvage something from the Deep Blood arc after all. You just gave me a great idea! It may take a while until I can use it tho…**

 **Sargent Crash: Welcome aboard! Glad to know you're enjoying the story… and I was honestly expecting you to take a little longer to catch up, as I tried to release this before you did. Well, I failed miserably lol. I hope you stick with us from now on until the end!**

 **One last thing, I've been trying to fix the grammar on the early chapters because I read it again and… it's really bad. So that's what these updates were about (and partly why it took me a while to get this done). Well, thanks for your support and see you all next time!**


	20. Silent Preparation

**IV**

 **Chapter 20: Grounds Shattered in the Quiet Night**

 **Silent_Preparation**

 **Part 1**

After agreeing on a temporary alliance, the first thing they done was share information about what they have done and discovered so far. "I see… so the security being off was your doing. What, I was getting worried over nothing. But still, it's impressive that you guys managed to do that. We could use someone with those skills on our team."

"Don't credit me for it, my backup is the one responsible. And trust me, the price for having her on your side is not cheap. A weak mind would crumble under her words... in a couple of hours..." Seeing how the boy trailed off, the Leader dropped the subject. "*Ahem* Anyway, was it really necessary to cut off the power?"

"That was our safest way to approach the situation. With no energy, the staff would panic and try to leave before they had a chance to move the cargo away. But it seems it wasn't enough, these guys must really want what's inside that container."

"Still, it doesn't looks like they are after us anymore." Added Yakumaru, running a few steps behind the other two. "Could it be that they really managed to move it away?"

"I think it's unlikely." Hishiro denied the possibility. "I checked up earlier and all paths leading to the basement were sealed off by those moving walls. Given how there's some kind of rule that prevent a high number of them to be closed at a time, if they had opened the path there, we would be running into a lot of them by now."

"So maybe they just evacuated everyone while we were busy fighting?"

"That would be the best case scenario, but I wouldn't count on that just yet." The boy then showed them the blueprints with his markings of movable walls on his cellphone. "At any rate, we need to find the place where these walls are being controlled if we want to get to the container. If there's no one there, then they probably ran away. But if you want to know my opinion, they are just waiting for a better opportunity to get rid of us."

And unfortunately, he was right.

After picking a route to search for the room in question, they turned on a corner and found themselves face to face with a powered suit equipped with a pair of gatling guns on each of its two arms, the barrels already rotating and ready to fire. Hishiro was the fastest to react and took cover on the corner they had just turned. The Leader took acton a fraction of a second later. "Watch out! Enemy ahead!"

Hearing that, Yakumaru stopped on her tracks right behind the boy and Naru dashed forward, making a paper barrier to protect the leader just before the hail of bullets begun, followed by the thunderous noise. Naru gritted her teeth while she tried her best to keep the barricade strong, but even the two left behind could see it wouldn't last, as the sheets were being torn and scattered all over the place.

"Step aside!" Yakumaru pushed Hishiro to the side, picked one of the spheres on her belt and sent it rolling on the ground towards the machine, exploding once it got close enough to its feet. It was a weaker blast when compared to the one she had used before, but it was enough to send the whole thing off balance, forcing it to stop shooting as the recoil would definitely send it to the ground.

With the metal storm finally over, the two behind confirmed that both Naru and the Leader were still in one piece. _Too bad… I was hoping that at least one of them would be out of the game after that._ Hishiro pushed the thought aside for now, loaded the AMCP and went to the frontline. They would doubt him if he didn't fight, so he had no choice despite wanting to just step back and hope they take enough damage to not get in his way.

Following his lead, Naru built her bunny armor and charged at the machine, intending to keep it from firing again. Her huge hands grabbed on the arms and forced them to aim downwards. But she didn't considered the fact that the gatling guns weren't the only weapons. Making a mechanical noise, long rocket launchers climbed from the suit's back up to its shoulders, point them past Naru at the two girls behind. "Oh no!"

Two missiles were fired right after, not giving her time to do anything about it. "Leave the one on the left to me!" Shouted Hishiro while slowing the projectile with his ability and shooting it down with his gun.

Yakumaru smashed a test tube against the wall making a bluish smoke screen spread out, while both she and the leader got out of the way. When the missile touched the gas chemical, it made a strange noise and it simply fell down as if it ran out of fuel.

Meanwhile, the powered suit regained its balance and kicked Naru's right leg. The force of the impact was stronger than she was expecting and she ended up letting go of the machine's right arm. Given this chance, it wasted no time before starting shooting again. Not only that, two more rockets were also on fired right after, turning the corridor into a certain death zone.

"Oh crap!" The male rolled beneath the missiles and faced the guns head on. He slowed down the projectiles with a wide distorted field, making them just slightly faster than airsoft shoots. Then, while taking hits and protecting his face with one arm, he blind shot all of his remaining bullets ahead. A few of them ate into the barrels of one of the guns, either digging holes inside the long tunnels or bending the metal structure. But one of his shots were actually lucky enough to hit the linking point between the other gun and the forearm of the machine. Sparks rained from there and the gatling gun stopped spinning.

"Good one, boy!" Prised the leader, holding the missile Yakumaru disabled earlier above her head like a basketball. Once the other two incoming missiles got close enough, she threw it at the left one and sent herself to the ground. Both of them caused a massive explosion on impact, destroying the third one that wasn't that far ahead. Standing up, the flu masked girl turned to Yakumaru and pointed to the powered suit's left arm. "There! If you hit that spot between the limb and the weapon, it will stop shooting!"

"Leave it to me!" Grinning, the capped girl lowered her body and dashed forward as fast as she could. "Naru, pull the arm a little closer!"

Following the command, the bunny armor tackled the center of the machine with its shoulder and pulled the arm just as she was told to, exposing the weak point. "Go for it, Ya-kun!"

From her belt, Yakumaru pulled a couple of smaller spheres and threw them towards the joint precisely. Instead of exploding, the objects sticked to it upon hitting and started to melt, corroding the metal on the process. The result was more than they were expecting, as the whole limb detached from the body and fell on the floor.

In response, the armor took a step back to adjust its aim, ready to fire the rockets one more time. "Oh no, you won't!" But Hishiro caught up its intentions right away and sent a grenade flying at the weapons. Naru was too close and barely managed to step away in time before the blast.

The fragments of the explosive not only damaged the weapon, but it seemed to have reached the compartment carrying the missiles, which caused yet another explosion on the machine's back, dozens of times stronger than the ones before, dismantling the whole thing and sending everyone else rolling backwards.

…

"Ugh… dammit..." Hishiro slowly got up, with his body hurting all over. It was difficulty to tell what was more painful, the slowed bullets or the explosion in the end. _Ow! No, it's definitely the bullets! Thank god those were_ _flat point bullets_ , _otherwise this wouldn't end in just a bunch of bruises. I need to remember to never do this again..._

Taking a look around, it seemed like no one left that battle unharmed, but none of them were too hurt to continue. After confirming that everyone was okay, the Leader wiped the dust from her clothes and walked up to the remains of the powered suit to analyze it. "It's a remote controlled model… I think we can track where the signal is coming from using it."

"That's good, but why had they sent the Queen Divers after us if they had a war machine like this one?" Asked Naru with a tired look on her face.

While taking the rounds that accidentally got into his clothes, the boy thought about the question for a bit before answering. "Well, if that's the only one they have, then they couldn't have used it to deal with all of us at the same time, since we were working separately until a moment ago. But I can't think of a reason as of why they couldn't have used it against one of us at a time. Not that I'm complaining, it would be a pain to fight it alone."

"If it's remote controlled… then it was probably impossible." Concluded Yakumaru. "Remember how the guard's radios weren't working? If that was because of a jamming signal, then this thing wouldn't work as well."

 _Jamming? Asuka didn't mention that at all, did she? Please don't tell me that there's even more people involved in this shit…_

"Okay, I found it." Interrupting the discussion, the flu masked girl stopped messing with the machine parts and turned to the group. "They must have deployed it not long ago, because the source of the signal is really close by."

 **Part 2**

"Wait, Aritomi-kun! The experiment was a success! I made it succeed! You can't just abandon me here! Are you listening, Aritomi-kun! ARITO-"

The despaired voice was suddenly cut up when he heard noise coming from the phone, meaning that the other party has ended the call. Left alone in this dark place only illuminated by the monitors in front of him - which were displaying what was the last nail of his coffin - that person wearing a lab coat over his Nagatenjouki Academy uniform sank on the chair. "You're kidding… this can't be happening!"

Only now, the poor male noticed he had been played all along. They told him that a rescue squad was ready to charge in and take him out of there if he succeeded. They even promised him that he would get an important position in the project. But now he was left behind, the enemy was on their way to get him and, according to the monitors, everything regarding the experiment and anything that could be used to link him to the group he had been working for was being deleted cleanly from the notebook's drive. He was set up as a scapegoat, and there was nothing he could do to prove his affiliation to the research team whatsoever. "Dammit! I-I won't let it end here! Not like this! They couldn't possibly have got rid of all the evidence in the lab! If I get out of here in time-"

But his last hope was mercilessly destroyed when the door behind him was smashed open. Yes, there was no time left for him to escape. Standing there were the 4 espers they had used for the experiment without their knowledge, and their eyes were filled with an insatiable blood lust. "Why, hello there!"

"W-w-w-w-w-wa-wait a moment! Let me exp-aah...GWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

It all happened in a matter of seconds. The human being that was there a moment ago was simply no more. All that was left was a grotesque pool of flesh and blood, caused by the giant paper hand smashing attack.

"Geez, Naru, what a mess! How are we supposed to get inside without stepping over this now?"

"S-sorry, Ya-kun… I should have thought of that earlier..."

Ignoring the complaints of the girls, Hishiro walked past them (and over the nasty puddle) to reach the computer on the other end of the small room. The Leader shrugged and followed him. The last two took a while before head in, tiptoeing over the _corpse_ as fast as they could.

After messing with the notebook for a bit, Hishiro sighed and announced. "It seems like this equipment wasn't originally from this place, and someone did a nice job getting rid of the important bits of its contents. There's almost no data left here, and its battery will die out really soon."

"Cutting out the power really backfired in the end, huh? Otherwise we could have searched through the other computers..." Lamented Naru, also letting out a sigh.

"But what should we do about all those walls then?" Asked Yakumaru while taking a better look at the place. "There doesn't seem to be any manual levers or nothing of the kind here."

"As you said earlier, the only other explanation would be an esper power." Answered the leader, casting another glance at the remains of that man. "With him dead, we can only hope that the passages are open now. But if he really used some kind of ability to move them, that still doesn't explain how he could know where we were."

"There's also the matter of the possible jamming system that needs to fit somewhere in this puzzle." Added Hishiro. "Unfortunately, it's impossible to grasp all of the pieces in our current situation. I suggest we check if the path to the basement is clean and get this mission over before any other complications happens."

"Agreed. If the worse happens and the path is still closed, we still have one last resource at our disposal." Affirmed the leader while the other two nodded, making the boy feel a little anxious.

 _What is this girl talking about? If she had such means, why didn't she used them already? I have a bad feeling about this… I need to get rid of them quickly!_

While they were all leaving the room, he stayed behind on purpose, eyeing the fusebox on the wall. "Oi, we are not going to wait for you if you can't match our pace!"

"Heh, you should be the one worried of being left behind." He answered the flu masked girl with a sinister grin and followed them. Soon enough, the notebook turned off on its own and the only remaining light in the room was a flashing red dot on the device attached to the fuse box that wasn't there when they had entered it.

…

 _Okay, I think we're far enough already._

Hishiro was toying with his cellphone inside his pocket without the others noticing as they made their way to the basement. His trap was already set. All that was left was to press a single button. With his heart racing, he casually walked closer to the leader, intending to finish her off first. And after taking one last deep breath…

The emergency lights went out, just as he planned.

"Whoa?"

"Wh-what's happening?"

"Is the emergency power supply over already?"

 _Alright, let's get started!_ That's what he intended - to use their own tactics against themselves. Knowing their overall position, he not only had the surprise element, but also an upper hand by not needing any light source to begin his attack. But one tiny variable totally out of his control would ruin his plans.

Before he could take any action or understand what was happening, Hishiro lost his balance and was forced to his knees. "What the heck is-?" His senses caught up with a small delay due to his focus being on somewhere else entirely, but once they did, he noticed that the ground was shaking and terribly loud noise was roaring all over the place. _An earthquake? Now?!_

To worsen things up, the ceiling started to fall apart, lowering a movable wall that was located there. Relying on their ears alone, everyone moved away from were the sound was coming from. For their luck, the tremor didn't last long, but the damage was already made.

A tiny flashlight held by Naru illuminated the darkness, but she only managed to find Hishiro there, leaning on the wall to get up. "Leader!? Ya-kun!? Where are you!?"

"We're here!" said a voice from the other side of the pile of ruble. "It seems like we got split up by the debris!"

 _This wasn't my fault... was it?_ Thought the boy as he approached the point where the passage got blocked, trying to act naturally. "There's no way we'll be able to clean that up. We should head for the basement and regroup there."

The answer took a while to come, which made him a little nervous. "Can you two get there though? Isn't the basement this way?"

"I have the blueprints, so it should be fine as long as the ceiling didn't collapse everywhere like this."

"... well, it can't be helped anyway. See you two there. Please be careful, Naru."

"Hmm, no problem!"

…

"Leader, are you sure about that? This is probably..."

"Yeah, I know. But there's nothing we can do from here. Let's just hope nothing happens until we met up again."

 **Part 3**

"But that really surprised me. Who would ever imagine that an earthquake would happen all of a sudden?"

"No kidding… talk about bad luck."

With no other option, Naru and Hishiro were forced to take a detour to reach their goal. She took the lead, illuminating the path while he traced the route based on the map on his cellphone. But his real focus was on how to adapt his plan to this new situation.

"Come to think of it, these earthquakes have been happening quite a lot lately, right?" Continued Naru carelessly without knowing what the male was intending to do.

 _It's unfortunate that I got stuck with her instead of the leader, but from what I have seen, she seems to be the strongest of the group. It isn't a bad idea to get rid of her now that she's alone to make things a little easier. Yeah, that sounds satisfying._ Hishiro then got closer to her quietly and pointed his revolver at her back.

 _Bang!_

The girl stopped on her tracks. It was impossible to see exactly where the wound was formed, but it was undoubtedly a clean hit. Or was it? The boy heard a metalic sound of something small hitting the floor right after, making him doubt that it had actually worked.

"You see… just because my clothes are made of paper, that doesn't mean I'm defenseless against bullets."

"Oh, is that so? Ah, that's right, you did block all those shots from the powered suit back then… still, there was no way I could know that you would be so protected without making that multi-layered barrier."

"Usually I'm not, but I can't let my guard down when I'm alone with a boy that I had just met, so I made sure to make it extra tough this time. Though I would probably be gone if you had shot my head instead."

"That does not fit my tastes… but in this case, it was a mistake to not do so."

"... I'm not sure why are you doing this in the first place, but it doesn't matter. You do know what comes next, don't you?" After she said that, the tension in the area increased considerably despite the fact that they were still talking with casual tones.

"Sure. I was ready for that the moment I pulled the trigger. The true question is: are _YOU_ ready for what's about to come?"

No more words were needed.

Naru flipped the switch of her flashlight, basking everything in darkness one more time, as the sound of her paper sheets forming the bunny armor roared in the corridor. Hishiro already expected that she would do that in case his first attack failed, so he kept his eyes closed for the past minutes as much as he could, in order to get his eyes used to the darkness. Of course, in an absolute pitch black space, that didn't mattered much, but as long as he had at least a weak source of light, his dilated pupils would be able to give him a clearer view of the scenery. And to fulfill this requirement, he made his cell phone display a white screen and placed it on the floor. It was really weak, but more than enough for him to make out the silhouette of his enemy.

And that's how he managed to see the incoming attack.

Naru swung her fist at him, intending to crush him in a single strike like she had done with the other male before. Hishiro rolled out of the way and fired a few shots, not caring if they would hit or not.

She reacted to the attack, trying to protect the parts of her body that weren't covered by the paper, giving him time to take a more elaborated action. He took a running start and jumped using the armored foot as a platform to get higher, aiming a punch at her face. However, he still wasn't able to reach it and ended up hitting her shoulder instead.

She prepared a counterattack, but the boy fired again right before she did. Even though she ignored her defense this time, no bullets managed to hit her, although her attack also missed.

His strategy was pretty much this: by firing his weapon in irregular intervals, the light created by the shoots wouldn't let her eyes adapt to the overall lighting of the place. So in the end, it was like fighting a blind giant in a cramped cave. The girl had actually dug her own grave thinking that she could overpower him in the dark.

Naru was getting impatient and flailed her arms around randomly, trying to land a lucky hit. But by now, Hishiro wasn't even near her anymore. He had taken his phone away and planted an explosive on the ground, the same kind he had used against the Queen Divers and the spare fuse box. With a simple press of a button, the device exploded right beneath the girl, scattering her armor around and sending her flying. "Sorry, but this is over."

Her body landed a few meters away, beyond his limited field of view. Walking slowly, he picked the flashlight she had let fall during the battle and turned it on. Now that he could see where she was, he confirmed she was unconscious, but she was still breathing and there was no sign of blood anywhere. "Did she managed to defend against the blast in the last second? That's impressive, actually. If she hadn't fainted, I would be out of options. I can't take those girls lightly."

Reloading his revolver, he walked closer to her intending to finish her off. But he only noticed something now that he stood by her side. He had blew up her armor with the last attack, and her armor was made from the same paper that made her clothes. Meaning that now, he was alone in the dark corridor with a naked unconscious girl laying on the floor. _T-that doesn't matter!_

He pointed his gun at her, but by doing so, he accidentally ended up paying closer attention to her body. From top to the bottom. She was totally defenseless. He could do basically do anything to her. _What the fuck am I thinking?!_

On a last attempt, he closed his eyes holding the gun pointed downwards where her body should be. Cleaning his mind of all thoughts, he took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

 _Click._

But that was the only sound that came from the weapon. It's no wonder that he ran out of ammo after shooting like crazy in that last battle. The problem was that just now he noticed he had REALLY ran out of ammo while he searched his pockets. All he had left was two reloads for the AMCP plus the amount he still had inside the cannon pistol.

"Oh well, can't waste those on a downed foe. I still have to deal with the other two after all." Clicking his tongue, he lowered his weapon and scratched the back of his head. "Goddammit... she should at least put on some underwear or something." After taking a final glance, the boy turned around and headed for the basement.

 **Part 4**

The first ones to reach the basement were Yakumaru and the Leader. It was a massive room with several machines and glass tubes attached to the walls that could probably fit a person inside. Besides those, the rest of the space was occupied with large boxes, containers and several mechanic and robotic devices scattered all over the place. "Well, here we are. We can't take the target away without Naru around, so let's search for it for the time being."

As the leader suggested, the two of them started walking, checking on each and every container they came across, lane by lane, trying to match them to the info they had received from the client. "By the way, Leader… do you have any idea of what kind of machine could be inside it?"

"Actually no… but looking at what is being stored here, I think I can make a good guess." The smaller girl deviated from the route they were walking and crouched down besides a pile of metal equipments. "Unless all that is just for show, it's something that needs extremely high voltage outputs, electro magnets and complex joints. I would say it's some kind of powered suit, but to need such high amount of power… maybe they're attaching some special weapon to it."

Resuming their search, they finally stopped in front of one of the larger containers that matched with the description of what they were looking for. To make sure, the Leader checked the serial code on one of the edges. "5o#3-McR(P001)... This seems to be the one."

"Now we need Naru to move this out of here… should I go look for her?"

That moment, they heard footsteps coming from the entrance. The two girls turned around in a flash, expecting the worse. But the one who had appeared from within the darkness was their temporary ally. "You sure took your time. Where's Naru?"

"The container…" Instead of answering the question, Hishiro asked her with a tired voice. "Did you found… the container?"

Something wasn't right about his behavior. Feeling a bit anxious, the capped girl pointed at the container at their right. "Y-yes, it's this one."

Then a weak smile appeared on his face… before he flopped forward like a domino being pushed. The two girls just stood there in shock, not knowing what to do, until a puddle formed beneath his body. "Leader… is this blood?"

It was impossible to tell at first glance due to the darkness. The smaller girl lowered her flashlight and confirmed their fear, running to his side and flipping him over. "Hey… Hey! What happened?! What about Naru?!"

The boy answered in a pained tone. ""Queen Divers… we split up during t-the fight and.. UGH!"

After listening to his story, the Leader nodded to Yakumaru, who picked up her phone. "Yeah, this is bad. I'm calling Seike right now."

But she never got the chance to do so. It happened so fast that she took a while to understand what was going on. _Something_ hit her hand and knocked out what she was holding. At the same time, the flashlight that was being held by the Leader fell to the floor and rolled away from them, changing the lightning of the whole environment. And right after… Hishiro was on foot, pointing a large handgun at her with a sinister smirk on his face.

But instead of being surprised, Yakumaru simply returned the smirk.

What fell from her hand wasn't exactly her phone, but one of her spheres, filled with some unknown chemical. Once it hit the floor, it released a smoke screen, blinding the boy just before he pulled the trigger, missing her by a mile. And then, she sent three more spheres flying at him as a countertack.

However, he was already expecting it and stopped them in mid air with his ability. "Not bad. You are way smarter than I thought at first. Since when did you knew?"

"The leader suspected you from the start. As for me… it was way too convenient for you to end up alone with Naru back then. If you and her had arrived here in one piece, there would be no reason to doubt you, but it seems like a wolf can't just stay still when he is left alone with a rabbit, huh..."

"I see… I can't tell if that was my luck or misfortune, but it no longer matter. This container is not going anywhere."

"Oh? And you think you can stop us alone?"

" _Us_? I think you should evaluate your count before anything else." He pointed towards the something that had hit Yakumaru earlier while giggling. Following it with the corner of her eye, what she saw there was the unconscious Leader, which made her click her tongue and glare daggers at him. "Don't give me that look. She was the one that attacked me while I was pretending to be hurt. Probably thought I couldn't fight back in that state… what an horrible thing to do, don't you think?"

"And what about Naru… what have you done to her?!"

The only answer she got was a wide smile that sent shivers down her spine. No more words were needed. She lost her cool and took of running, holding three test tubes on each hand. Hishiro released the spheres he was keeping still and welcomed her charge, ready to stop anything she would throw at him. However, she ended up kicking one of the spheres that fell down, sending it flying towards his leg.

Faced with an unexpected attack, he had not time to activate his ability and was forced to sidestep to avoid it. But that's what the capped girl wanted. She removed the lid of one of her tubes and splattered the liquid on the ground, where it froze instantly, creating a thin layer of ice on the area. Hishiro caught up on what she was planning to do and lowered his body, leaning on the floor with his hand to avoid slipping.

This gave Yakumaru enough time to reach him and launch the contents of her second tube at him. He managed to avoid it by swinging his body to the side, but she followed up with a knee on his face, making him fall on his back and slide along the frozen floor.

Hishiro rolled to the right when he saw more of her chemicals raining at him, getting on his feet on the process. The capped girl had even more tubes in hand and was dashing towards him to continue her attack. The boy quickly tried to predict the movement of her feet and spawned a distorted field on where she was supposed to step next. Yakumaru noticed it just in time to stop in her tracks once her left foot touched it, avoiding sprinkling her ankle. Still, that was enough. Hishiro shortened the remained distance between them in the meantime and knelled her gut without releasing her from the grasp of his ability, widening the girl's eyes in pain.

He intended to keep her in place and hit her until she passed out, but unlike his expectations, she was able to react, slapping him with the back of her hand. The strike broke his focus and the field around her foot disappeared, allowing her to send a high kick on his shoulder. The boy moved his body following the movement of her attack to lessen the impact, rolling to the side once and aiming his gun at her.

Feeling the danger of being shot, Yakumaru took of her hat and threw it forward to disrupt his aim, releasing her beautiful long hair. Just as she planned, the bullet fired missed her, only managing to scratch her hair which was what had actually distracted him. Clicking his tongue, he readjusted his aim and shot her again three times, but she had already taken cover behind a large steel box. Of course, the AMCP was capable of shooting through it, but it would be a waste of ammo if he couldn't aim at her.

Setting his gun aside for now, he grabbed a couple of his few remaining grenades and launched them behind the box. However, it seemed like she had the exactly same idea as some spheres came rolling towards him, ready to ignite. "Oh crap!"

Hishiro jumped back as fast as he could while making a sloppy field ahead of him to contain as much of the incoming blast as possible. He was able to avoid lethal damage, but ended up with a few burns on his hands. "Girls of Academy City really love explosives, don't they? Is this a new trend or something? Next time, could you at least try to hit the container with enough of those to scrap it? Would save me a lot of time if you did so."

"Shut up..." She said after leaving he cover, holding her forearm with her other hand. It looked like the grenade had damaged her as well, since there was blood dripping from within the gaps of her fingers. Her face showed nothing from the confidence or playfulness from earlier. All that was left was pure anger towards the enemy that had taken out two of her friends and hurt her to this point. Hishiro couldn't help but smile at her expression, enjoying overpowering her and getting secretly worried at the same time. _She's just too clever and reacts too fast. If I slow down for a mere moment, it'll be all over. And I'm running low on resources… I guess I can't prolong this anymore. I'll plant the bomb on the container and get away from here before she gets a chance to have an advantage over me._

However, for the second time, the forces of fate would ruin his plans.

The ground beneath their feet started shaking once again, stronger than before, making the whole building roar as dust fell from the ceiling. _Another earthquake? Just what the fuck is going on here?!_

Yakumaru turned around and tried to reach the Leader that was still unconscious a few steps away from her, but the tremor was too much and she lost balance. Both of them were forced on their knees and couldn't anything but wait for it to stop. But unlike the previous one, it simply didn't. More and more dust kept falling down until they heard some cracking sounds from above. Yakumaru and Hishiro looked at each other one last time, knowing what was about to come. They were enemies for the time being, but they were still humans. When faced a incomprehensible force that could their lives without giving them the chance of doing anything, all rules meant nothing. Were they thinking about saving the other? Using them to survive? Perhaps just seeing if they would die before themselves? Maybe not even they had enough time to find out the answer. In a matter of seconds, the whole building fell apart above their heads.

 **Part 5**

"*Cough*! *Cough*, *Cough*! G-goddammit...!"

From beneath the debris, Hishiro crawled his way out towards the only light he could see.

For a moment, he really believed he was done for. But in a desperate attempt to save himself, he created the largest field he could above him, hoping it would stop anything that could smash him. Needless to say, the amount of mass that fell down was way beyond the limit of his ability and his mind was crushed by a pain and pressure he had never felt on his life until now. When he came to himself, he was curled into a ball, surrounded by blocks of steel and concrete, with his body hurting all over, but he was still alive. Even the containers, steel boxes and spread machinery were completely destroyed, but he managed to survive and could crawl through a tunnel out of this situations. It could be because of his field needed up slowing down and changing the way the debris fell or by raw luck. Either way, he was finally free from that nightmare.

After stretching his aching muscles, he wiped off the dust he could from him and took another look on the scenery. "Yup, those girls and the target couldn't have gotten away after this..." He then picked his phone and called Asuka. "Mission complete. I'm on my-"

"DON'T 'Mission complete' ME! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SHIRO?!"

"Sheesh, calm down for a moment. It turns out the lab wasn't an Egypt pyramid, but an ancient Mayan temple instead, set to crumble down once someone touched the treasure."

"There's no time for jokes! How are we going to explain this mess? You should learn to hold back a little!"

"It wasn't my fault! There was an earthquake and- wait, did you even thought for a mere second that I had enough power to make the whole facility crumble?"

Of course not. She was trying to hide it, but Hishiro could hear her giggling from the other side of the line. "Seriously, Asuka, you're gonna end up killing me of a heart attack one of these days if you keep doing this..."

"I doubt it. Did you really know what you have just survived? I don't think there's much in this world that can actually kill you, Shiro. You're just a few steps behind that Rüdiger magician from the other day."

"Ugh, don't remind me… and I'm sure I just got lucky this time. By the way, what's with those sudden earthquakes?"

"Dunno. But they have been happening quite often lately. Still… none were strong enough to make a building collapse until now. To be honest, it's probably the first time they happened in succession like this."

Something sounded off. Looking around, all the other buildings, which were supposed to be way weaker than the lab just now, seemed to be fine. Asuka was probably watching him somehow because she caught up with what he was thinking. "Weird, isn't it? The tremor was somehow stronger in the area, even though it wasn't the epicenter of the tremor."

"Is that even possible?"

"It happened before, but only with tremors that affected large areas involving several cities. In this case, it doesn't looks like a natural phenomenon at all. What do you think? Want to take a peek at some shady secrets~*?"

"No… I'm done for today."

"Too bad. Well, I'm going sniff around for a while, so I'll let you know if I find anything."

Finishing the call, the boy took a look at the time displayed on the screen of his phone. "23:13… what time do you even got to sleep, Asuka?" And from this angle, he finally noticed the despicable state that his clothes were in. "And how am I going to wash off all this fake blood and dust?"

…

A little away from there, Yakumaru opened her eyes and, for her surprise, she and the Leader were still fine. Actually, just the ceiling above them and the container was still in one piece. Before she could take a better look of her surroundings, someone called her from above. "Yakumaru… Are you alright?"

"Seike..." Long black hair and wearing a female sailor uniform, the one standing there firmly grasping the pillar sustaining the ceiling was the last member of SCAVENGER who was on stand by outside. "Why are you here?"

"I got tired of waiting. When a lot of people started coming out from the back door, I thought it would be okay to have some fun with them." He said while offering a hand to Yakumaru. She picked up the Leader beside her and climbed out of the hole. "Then the first earthquake happened and I got inside to check if everything was okay."

"I see… thanks. We own you-"

"Ya-kun, Leader! I'm so glad..."

"Naru! So you were fine… W-wait Naru! I'm gonna fall there again if you do- Hey, where you think you're touching!?"

Ignoring the commotion, Seike continued explaining. "I found her passed out not much long ago. Seems like she hit her head, nothing serious. By the way, is that thing down there the container we need to take?"

"Y-yeah." Answered Yakumaru, still struggling to get away from maid uniform girl's hug. "Hey, Naru, hurry up and bring that thing up here. Seike can't keep the structure from collapsing forever." Finally letting go, Naru formed the giant arm of her bunny armor and started dragging the container. Meanwhile the other girl noticed Seike was toying with something that looked like a purple rectangular glass recipient with something thin like a wire inside. "What's this?"

"No idea." He shrugged. "I found it nearby a collapsed wall in the lab."

Back then, they didn't paid the necessary attention to the object. Little they knew about its true meaning, how it would affect the lives of a few main pieces in Academy City nor how it would be the core of the massive and chaotic storm, set to shake the fates of all working in the backstage.

 **Between the Lines**

August 6, 0:22, Nagatenjouki Academy Principal's office.

"You can tell your staff that they can relax, everything has been settled down."

The brown haired woman in dark blue overcoat sitting elegantly on the leather swivel chair talking on the phone was Yukiko Hayashi, the current principal of the prestigious institution. Due to her position, she needs to keep up with all the projects and researches that the staff of the academy is taking part on. And that means she can also use her influence to help them cross a few lines that shouldn't be officially crossed.

That's right, a school can't manage to be among the top institutions of Academy City by sticking to the rules all the time. That's one of heaviest responsibilities held by the principal.

"We can't thank you enough, Hayashi-san. Just imagining what would happen if someone else made use of the prototype..."

"Don't think about it, Takayama-sensei. Everything is fine now. And I have also signed a contract with a group that will most likely avoid such things from happening in the future."

"A contract? With who?"

"MAR. Have you heard of them? Their leader is eager to see the prototype in action."

"Yes, I know them, but…" The other party couldn't hide their anxiety over hearing those news, which was no surprise, since they were walking on a tight hope right now due to having so many people disrupting their work. "I don't understand why the Multi Active Rescue would need the equipment we're developing."

"Neither do I, but they have to deal with all kinds of situations, after all. Still, they are reliable people, so you don't have to worry. They are also looking into the strange earthquakes that have been getting in your way as well."

"Is that so… Well, I trust your judgment, principal. If you believe this is for the best, then it must be. When can we have the pieces for the prototype back in the lab?"

"Oh, Saito is taking they there right now, so you can probably resume your work by tomorrow."

The call ended soon after and the woman let out a tired sigh. "Nice try, chairman. Stealing the fruit of our work was an unexpected move, but I won't let you take this project from our hands no matter what. Now that we have a deal with Therestina Kihara Lifeline, you cannot attempt another bold move like this one. This is check. What will be your next move?"

…

"What a cunning woman indeed."

Those words were said to no one in particular. Actually, there was currently no other person in that place to hear them besides the speaker himself, the 'human' floating upside down inside the large cylindrical tube filled with a reddish liquid.

There weren't many people in the world that could be considered an annoyance by this human, who could turn each and every outcome to his favor on the long run, but that woman in particular was a literal pebble on his path. She not only recovered the prototype he was intending to give to another institution to complete it, but she also used the whole incident to run an experiment for another project under her supervision - and one that was a variable outside of his plans, which could turn out to be an obstacle later. "A machine capable of reproduce an esper power and an artificially created esper..."

With a simple movement of his index finger, a huge holographic multi-layered diagram appeared around the tube. He analyzed it cautiously from one side to another, pointing towards a few squares, changing their color to either green, yellow, red, blue or white, as well moving the lines that connected them in the complex pattern. Satisfied with the changes made, he dismissed the hologram and closed his eyes. "I probably could find a way to make use of all that."

* * *

 **Yup, this and the last one were supposed to be a short 5K words chapter. Looking at it now I can't help but scream "HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPENED!?" No joke, this is becoming a habit by now…**

 **Well, let's set that aside and focus on what is really important. This was an hybrid action and build up chapter, and the first ever since… eh… *checks* Geez, ever since the battle between Hidhiro and ITEM (maybe I should write more of those). I made sure to have Hishiro and SCAVENGER both fighting together and against each other to please all tastes (lies, I just wanted to see that happening myself), but I also thought that an all out battle like the confrontation against ITEM wouldn't be as cool as he undermining their team and taking them out one by one in a more clever way. After all, it would be too cruel if I kept setting him up against large numbers of powerful espers all the time.**

 **Speaking of cruelty, I have to say sorry for Naru. Only now I noticed I was too mean to her during these last two chapters. If I ever let SCAVENGER join the fight again in the future, I need to remember to treat her a little better.**

 **And for the answer of reviews:**

 **Guest: All I can say without spoiling anything is that Hishiro, unlike most of Touma's opponents, isn't the kind of character that needs someone to punch the truth on his face to be aware of the wrongs of his actions, and he won't change easily after losing a battle.**

 **I guess that's it. I'll be doing some research during the weekend because I just found out about the existence of a certain character from a spin off that will fit right into the current arc, so this may delay the next chapter for a bit, but I believe it will be worth it. As always, thanks for the reviewers, the typo hunters and those in the backstage helping me out with ideas for the story, you are all awesome. See you guys next time!**

 **…**

 **...**

 **Huh? What are you doing here?**

"Misaka came to complain, as she was supposed to be the focus of this part of the story and yet has been reduced to a minor cameo with a single line so far, says Misaka as she pretends to not notice that she's releasing sparks of anger towards the author."

 **H-hey! Wait a moment! You will be on the spotlight soon enough, so please be patient and-AAARGH that hurts! You do know that I can't block that like Touma or Accelerator- AAAAAAH SUUUUCH MISFORTUUUUNE!**


	21. Misleading Path

**IV**

 **Chapter 21: What Changes When Seen From Another Angle**

 **Misleading_Path**

 **Part 1**

August 8, 09:45 AM

"Take a sit." Said Kumokawa Seria once Hishiro entered the room, who was unusually wearing an long sleeved red shirt and black sweatpants, since he had yet to do something to clean his regular outfit.

She had called him today for an emergency meeting in a spacious office in District 3 (though only the two of them were there, unless you count Asuka that was hearing everything through the boy's communication device). None of the two members of New Pointer had any idea of what had made her want to meet them in person, but just by looking at her face, Hishiro knew that this wasn't going to be a pleasant chat. He quickly sat on the chair opposite to hers and waited for her to start while ignoring the cup of coffee that was already on the table.

"Do you remember what was the goal of your last mission and what you reported afterwards?" The girl asked him with a stern look. She was obviously angry about something.

"Destroy the contents of the stolen cargo. Even though there was a confront with another unofficial group, the mission was completed with the collapse of the facility where the cargo was stored. Is that enough?"

Seria nodded quietly and handled a tablet like device, making a large screen drop down on the left edge of the room. "Now, can you explain the meaning of this?"

After touching the tablet one more time, the monitor lit up and displayed a recording from the surveillance cameras. Hishiro narrowed his eyes in disbelief when he saw it. "That's… weird, to say the least..."

Indeed. The scene in question was no other than Naru from the Scavengers in her bunny armor, carrying a massive container from the debris of the laboratory from that night. Was that the one he was supposed to destroy? "No, something's wrong… It's already and oddity that they survived that, but the size and color of the container doesn't match the one they were after in the lab. This gotta be-"

"It IS the right one." Interrupted Seria, zooming in the image to the serial code marked at the corner of the steel box. "5o#3-McR(P001)... that's the one that was stolen. What do you have to say about that, Yamazaki-san?"

This time, his eyes went wide. _It can't be… That thing wasn't so large, and was right besides me when the building went down, so it had to be destroyed… unless…_

"Tsk!" Clicking his tongue was all his pride allowed him to do. He was fooled by those girls from the moment he stepped into the basement. They had pointed him the wrong container and he fell for it like an idiot without checking.

Seria could tell what he was thinking just by looking at his face and sighed. "Do you have any idea of the trouble your failure is causing right now? All because you weren't paying enough attention at the most important part of the mission!"

"Kinda difficult to do that when you're up against two enemy espers."

The girl paused for a moment and frowned. "And this is your excuse? You were up against stronger and more numerous foes before..."

Hishiro rolled his eyes and sighed. _This is going to take forever..._ he thought. Usually, he would just ignore everything and nod blankly when he felt it was necessary, but right now, he was really pissed by the fact he was tricked. "Oh, and that's your response? Let me remind you that I DID fight dozens of people using a strange equipment that I had never seen in my life AND a full armored powered suit in the same day! Not to mention the earthquake! I failed, sorry, but what the heck do you expect me to do?! I'm getting myself nearly killed every time, and almost always I succeed!"

"This time it was different! That thing is putting several lives in danger-"

"And how was I supposed to know that?! Because you did a great job on not telling me the important details yet again! I don't even know what is inside that damn thing!" Seria looked like she wanted to talk back, but for some reason, she hesitated. Hishiro noticed it and pressured her on even further with a smug smirk. "Besides, if I remember correctly, they were going to take that container back to the original owner, so how that put people lives in danger? Didn't you told Asuka that the issue lied in it falling into the wrong hands? What do YOU have to say about that, huh?!"

"I-I..."

"That's enough, Shiro. Calm down. You're going overboard." Asuka finally spoke, keeping a firm tone. The boy noticed he had even stood up and leaned on the table towards Seria unknowingly. Taking a deep breath, he sat down again and decided to leave it to Asuka for now, who seems to have got into her serious mode. "Seria-chan, you shouldn't be harsh on him either. Shiro has been doing the impossible to fulfill his role, even though he is alone now. But even he has limits, and without enough information, this is just as far as he can go. Putting more pressure on him is not a good idea."

After being told of by both of them, there was no way she could continue reprimand him. Also, even though she felt Asuka's favoritism towards the boy, she did have a point. He was the sole remaining member and he was working with the minimal intel possible, and all of that was her own fault to some point. Sighing one more time, she changed her approach. "Okay, I guess I do need to apologize. It is true that I have been selective about what I pass to the booth of you regarding the recent operations."

That line made Hisiro rise a brow. He wasn't expecting her to outright admit it, even less apologize for it. "But why? There is no need to hide anything from New Pointer. Turning a blind eye to some shady stuff is part of our job after all."

"That's not the problem. Before I can say anything else… Mayu-san, can guarantee that your line is 100% safe?"

"Yup, yup, it uses an oscillatory medium range frequency, so it can't be tracked or eavesdropped unless they know the pattern that is changed randomly at random intervals." She answered pridefully. "It's a technology I developed myself for my personal use, so no one else should know enough about how it works to hack into it."

Seria nodded satisfied. If there was one thing she knew about Asuka was that her ability to stay unreachable was second to none. "Then I guess it should be fine to tell you this. Do you remember the operation executed on the night of July 19?"

There's no way they wouldn't remember. That was the night Hishiro teamed up with ITEM to track down the intruders, namely Index, the sword woman and another person they still didn't know. "What about it?" Asked Hishiro, having a bad feeling about it. By now he knew that anything related to that incident crossed the line of common sense.

"Who sent out the order that day?"

"Hmmm... It was Kaizumi-san, if I remember correctly." Asuka answered it this time.

But Seria simply waved her head in response. "It wasn't him. He had his hands full with other things back then. And it wasn't Oyafune either."

Huh?

The boy started realizing something was off. "Wait a moment… there was a clear order for us to cooperate with ITEM to capture the intruders. There's no mistake about that. They'll say the same if you question them about it."

"I know, and that's the issue. Someone else sent the command trough our lines. We had cases in the past of other parties monitoring our actions, but those weren't a problem because people from the darkness can't understand the workings of New Pointer from just that. They end up thinking we are just another group like any other that can be a menace to them. But this time… whoever was behind this not only knew our purpose, but also knew how to make use of it for their own goals, whichever those are."

Now it all fell into place. Asuka had suspected a struggle was happening among the directors, but that wasn't the case. This was a direct attack towards New Pointer, and perhaps to Kaizumi and Oyafune as well. Hishiro couldn't tell if the situation was better or worse than they suspected. "Dammit… I could have died on the hands of the Grim Reaper that night, and all because we were being played?"

"But the worst of all..." Seria continued, paying no heed to the male's complaints. "Is that they have means to access and use our communication systems. Meaning that each and any information we share may be used as a weapon against us at any time."

"Ah, I see now… so that's why you were holding back on giving us the details." Said Asuka with a tone that didn't match at all the urgency of the situation.

"Indeed. And I'm afraid things will have to continue like this unless you disclose the technology for these to us all, Mayu-san."

"Oh well, it can't be helped then. Hang in there, Shiro! You managed it so far, so I know you can keep it up."

"W-what the hell, Asuka?! Weren't you on my side just a moment ago?! All you have to do is let us all use this thing!"

"But if I did that, I would be the one in danger. After all, if whoever is behind it hijacked the system from Seria-san's hands, what will stop them from doing the same with my cute precious thing?"

Both Hishiro and Seria had several problems with how she worded it, but she had a point. Asuka's com was right now their last safeguard, and misusing that card could be fatal for all of them. All he could do was sigh in defeat. Things would be tough from now on.

"You don't need to despair just yet." Assured Seria. "It's not like we can keep going like this forever. This is just a temporary solution, because the moment they notice we figured them out, they might use a bolder method, and we can't afford to let that happen. We need to know who we're fighting against as soon as possible."

"And how do we do that?"

"You can leave this to us." The girl said, pointing at herself with an elegant smile. "I'm also making arrangements to hire a new member, so the team's manpower will be increased by the beginning of the next month."

"What!?"

"Whoa, really?!"

Both Hishiro and Asuka screamed in unison, for different reasons. She sounded excited, meanwhile he wanted to protest. However, Asuka did use the fact that there was just so much he could do alone as an argument to back him up a while ago, so he couldn't do so directly. "T-that's surprising. I never thought you cared at all about having a single agent on the field." He said with a wry smile, trying to hide his dissatisfaction.

Upon hearing that, Seria placed her hands on her hips and asked annoyed. "Just what kind of monster you think I am?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that before hiring a lawyer first."

"Just so you know, having you alone in the team was never part of the plan. It's not my fault that everyone dropped out one after the other after that incident. And we've been too busy since then to actually do anything about it, so sorry."

For some reason, it seemed she felt somewhat guilty about the situation. Hishiro had never seen her troubled like this before, and had to make an effort to not to laugh, washing away his anger to some point. "Well, just make sure it's someone competent. All I don't need right now is a weakling holding me back."

"No need to worry about that." She said, finishing the topic. "Anyway, leaving all of that aside for now, we do need to do something about the container."

"Oh, right. I had almost forgotten about it." Admitted the boy, earning him a sharp glance from the other party. "Since we are in talking face to face, can you tell us more about it?"

Instead of answering, Seria simply touched her tablet a couple of times, changing the contents of the large screen. "Did you ever heard about the Radio Noise project?"

"I did."

"Tell me something you never heard about in this city Asuka, and then I'll be impressed." He retorted while she simply giggled. "Fill me in."

And then, an image that would burn into Hishiro's brain and shake his fate for months appeared on the screen. "Isn't that… the Railgun?"

"Yes and no. This is a _Sister_ , a clone of Misaka Mikoto, originally created for military purposes. However, even though they were exact copies of the original, none of them reached level 5, so the project was discontinued."

"And recently, they are being used for the Level 6 Shift project, right?" Asuka continued nonchalantly, but these words made the boy narrow his eyes.

"Level 6?"

"Yup! Before being shot down, some crazy geezers used the Tree Diagram to calculate what would be necessary to turn a level 5 into a level 6. Turns out that if the #1 kill the #3 about 128 times, or these weaker clones 20,000 times, he will become a level 6. So they went ahead and actually created 20,000 of these clones! Can you believe these people?"

 _Insane. That's utterly insane. To think someone would go that far to-_ his line of thought died there, because he remembered what the fake Kihara, Hideaki told him that day. "Good grief… is it okay to leave them be like this?"

"Yes, you don't need to worry about it for the time being." Said Seria with a serious face. "No matter the results, this won't put in risk the people out of the dark side. Besides, that project has been on the verge of being canceled since the loss of the Orihime I, as they can no longer do any calculations to deal with any unforeseen circumstances. What we really need to take care of is a side project that is going on alongside it."

"Oya? That's the first time I hear of something like that?"

"The scales are growing beyond Asuka's radar already? I'm not sure I want to get involved in this anymore..."

Ignoring her surprise and his lame joke, Seria continued. "Ever since the cancellation of the Radio Noise, a small research group under the wings of Nagatenjouki Academy got a hold of the Sisters in order to investigate the reasons behind the underdevelopment of their powers. However, their true goal was totally different… they wanted to get a good understanding of the #3 ability in order to reproduce it without the need of an Esper."

"Eh? Is that even possible?" Asked Asuka.

"According to their research, it is. They are aiming to make a machine capable of using the same abilities as Misaka Mikoto. In other words, a weapon that can be mass produced, giving anyone that wields it free access to the power of a level 5."

Silence. Hishiro thought for a mere second on what would happen if a private group managed to develop that thing, and the image wasn't a pretty one. Depending on their intentions, they could overtake Academy City by force… no, maybe the whole country. Was there anything in the world that could stop an army loaded with those things? Seeing that they both understood the gravity of the situation, Seria continued talking. "That container held the prototype of this weapon, that was stolen by another group that found out about its existence. If the word spread out any further, we might end up with another Breakdown in our hands, with all factions trying to get a hold of it. That's why we cannot afford to fail again. This project must be stopped at all costs."

As always, this was too much information for Hishiro to handle at once, but he was getting used to it by now. Resting his head on his hand, he asks. "But how? Can we still destroy the prototype?"

"Unfortunately, this is no longer an option. It seems like the development is already on the next stage, and the prototype was sold off to MAR for practical testing. In summary, it's on the hands of Therestina Kihara Lifeline - someone we cannot interfere with, as she also steps on the gray zone between the public and the dark side of Academy City just like us."

She made a small pause and took a sip of her cup before continuing. "For now, all we can do is observe and wait for the next opportunity to strike. And you can bet it'll be way more difficult to stop them now than last time."

 **Part 2**

"Goddammit!"

*Clank*

The source of the metallic noise that echoed on the streets was a cleaner robot that had just been kicked over by an extremely pissed off brown haired boy, who was still unsatisfied even after sending the damn thing rolling down the sidewalk.

"Shiro… I know how you feel, but all you will earn from venting your anger on innocent robots is another pair of handcuffs from Judgment. Or is that perhaps your goal? Did you take a liking on that Tokiwadai girl?"

"They can send the a whole division of Judgment after me if they want! Specially that girl! I'll kick her ass so hard this time that she'll wish she never came to this damn city in her life!"

His voice almost sounded like a roar from a wild beast. Not even Asuka had seen him so angry before. "Geez, calm down for a second. Screaming like that won't change the past."

"Calm down? How can I calm down in this situation? We have been toyed around like everyone's pawns for months, for all we can tell! And because of that, I got almost killed by a samurai girl and that snake freak! And there's a high chance that there are more of them coming in the future! And on top of all that, those blasted girls of Scavenger dared to pull my leg on the last minute! Just… just… AAAAAAAAAAAH!" And then he snapped and punched the closest wall repeatedly. "I'll kill those junkyard robbers! I swear I will kill them nice and slow!"

Asuka wanted to say "You was also trying to pull their legs", but in his current state, it was for the best to not do anything that would make him even angrier. And it was not like she wasn't mad at the whole situation either. She had her fair amount of headache to deal with because of all this mess as well. The difference is that for her, it was just extra explanations to give and paperwork to fill, while he had to clash head on with all those unreasonable things.

And it was just about to get worse.

"Yo, Shiro. Are you into shadow boxing now?"

At that moment, the air around the whole district got 10 degrees colder, and dark clouds started gathering above them… or that's how Asuka saw it.

Hishiro smashed his fist against the wall one last time and slowly, very slowly, turned his head towards the person that was suddenly standing there, making a face that would even make the mighty Meltdowner break into a cold sweat. Even Asuka swallowed dry through the communicator right before cutting the call when she sensed Hishiro's anger level raise yet another 9,000 points, not wanting to take part (nor responsibility) in what could end up happening there between the two. "... Kai."

Kai Ishida. He was a tall young man, with a light brown hair, black eyes, wearing a mostly yellow t-shirt save for some white sprites on the lower half, shorts and sandals, who was a former member of New Pointer until a few months ago, leaving the team just a couple of weeks before Hinata did. Going by the files, he was supposed to be 18 years old, but he gave off a feeling of being way older than that, despite the way he dresses.

But the important part right now was that Hishiro despised this person more than anything in the world. Needless to say, he was the last human being the boy wanted to see right now. However, Kai seemed to not notice the hostility coming from him and just continued talking casually. "Long time no see. Never thought I would run into you here in District 3."

"I wish I never did, battery-man."

Hearing that, Kai eyes opened wide and blinked a few times before he scratching the back of his head with a wry smile. "Ah - Ahahahaha... it's been a while since someone called me like this. You haven't changed at all, Shiro. Your ability to hit people's weak spots is just second to Asuka."

Hishiro just kept staring coldly as the other male laughed in embarrassment until he cleaned his throat and continued. "Anyway, I'm going to see Hinata in the hospital now. Are you free? You could come with me, I'm sure it would make her happy. Also, there's so much I have to talk-"

"I can't." Replied the younger male, his eyes burning like a blue flame ready to explode into an inferno. "You know, due to a bunch of morons that had no backbone and decided to abandon their responsibilities, my life turned into a busy hell lately. Ah, so busy, so busy." He finished in a sarcastic tone and tried to walk away, just to be stopped by Kai who held a firm grip on his wrist. This made Hishiro almost snap at him on the spot, but before he could say or do anything, Kai sighed and dropped his optimistic attitude.

"Okay, I get it. You have all the reason to be mad at us. I'll go direct to the point. I just need you to answer one question and you're free to go."

The other boy didn't like his attitude one bit as it implied he was on control of the situation, but if all he had to do is give a single answer to get rid of him, it was better than keeping arguing. "Just spit it out already."

"Remember that kid named Isay Aleksev that used to work with us? By any chance, have you seen, or perhaps talked to him ever since then?"

Hishiro blinked blankly in face of the weird question. That sure came out of nowhere. He couldn't answered right away and had to think a bit to remember who Kai was talking about. "... No, I think the last time I saw him was when he left the team with the other one. Is that enough?"

The older male kept looking at him with serious eyes for a few moments before releasing the grip on his wrist and smiling again. "Yes, it is. That's good to know. Well then, see ya, Shiro. I hope you're a little calmer next time we meet." And then he walked away, waving his hand with his back turned at the dumbfold boy.

Hishiro forgot all about his rage and thought for a second on what had just happened. Something felt off about this whole conversation. First of all… how did Kai know that Hinata was in the hospital? She had been there ever since the day she got hurt fighting Yuna and got saved by Kamijou Touma, but no one unrelated to the incident - or unrelated to Hinata - should know about it. Which means that either Asuka or Hinata herself kept in touch with Kai this whole time, or… "He was directly involved in that whole mess!"

Now it made sense. Kai was the kind of guy that blindly believed in justice and always fought for righteousness - or rather, for what he thought to be right, even if it was blatantly wrong in the eyes of others around him. That was one of the many things about him that pissed Hishiro off beyond measure. Another one was how he made all girls around him kiss the ground he walked while he complained about how he never had a girlfriend, but that's beyond the point. The important bit is that Hinata used to follow him all over the place like a dog after its owner.

So what would she have done when she left the team? What would Kai be doing by that time? The pieces of the puzzle started falling in place one by one. _So that's why Hinata is still involved in the dark side? Ha! That's just so stupid that is almost pitiable!_

Leaving that aside, he focused on what was important in the story. _So Kai's fake justice led him to fight LIZARD - or rather, led him to force Hinata to do so while he watched from who knows where. But if that's the case…_

"Isay Aleksev, huh..."

This was the one piece that didn't fit anywhere. Hishiro don't remember much about his appearance, but he could recall very clearly that he was an annoying bossy boy about the same age as himself that was always playing games whenever they had free time. Also, his abilities were a complete unknown. He avoided getting involved in direct conflicts, and every time he had to do something complicated, he went alone and got it done somehow. "I wonder what Kai wants with him..."

Driven by curiosity, he decided to tail his former teammate. Given his current position in this giant tug-o-war, he couldn't afford to miss any lead.

 **Part 3**

Unfortunately, Hishiro ended up losing sight of Kai along the way. But he was sure he had gone this direction, and… _This is not even close to way of that hospital. He didn't mention any detours back then, so… was he lying? Where would he take me I had accepted his offer?_

All the irritation he was feeling earlier was slowly coming back to him as he desperately looked for the other boy in the crowd, but it was no use. The answer for his doubts was lost. If he just had made his mind faster, this wouldn't have happened.

"..Guha!"

?

He was about to give up when he suddenly heard a grunt coming from an alley, followed by a thunderous noise. It was too much for a simple street brawl. "Don't tell me…!"

Hishiro dashed towards the source of the sound without a second thought. It was just like Kai to get involved in a thug fight that had nothing to do with him. Yes, it had to be him. Without a doubt!

But Hishiro would soon regret his precipitated action.

What he saw there was not Kai. Yes, there was a bunch of thugs fighting, but they were all trying to take down a single person.

All of them looked quite strong, some with powerful abilities that should be at least at level 3.

And yet they were all on the ground, while their foe was the single one standing. Slender thin limbs, with his hands inside his pockets… one would think that he looked out of place there and that he stood no chance against all these people at the same time. However, for those in Academy City that knew who they shouldn't fight against, his white hair and deep crimson eyes were enough to tell that crossing his path meant certain death.

Three of the downed thugs stood up and charged at the _monster_ at the same time. One had a steel pipe that was emitting dangerous looking sparks. The other held both hands forward and shoot a large purple colored sphere. The last shot the pebbles he was holding at a devastating speed, while he prepared a heavy punch with his other hand.

But none of that meant anything. The white boy simply grinned viciously and mad a small motion. It was so subtle that someone not paying attention wouldn't notice it at all. And with that, all three attacks circled him and were redirected to their own allies. The pebbles hit the one with a pipe in the face, piercing one of his yes and sending him rolling in pain. The electrified pipe struck the other esper on the stomach, drawing a scream of agony out of him before he fell unconscious. And the light sphere gained speed before hitting the arm of the third before his punch had hit, setting it on fire on the spot.

The massacre continued for no longer than seven seconds. All of them were utterly defeated, maybe even dead. That was the power of the strongest esper in Academy city, the #1 level 5: Accelerator.

Hishiro was frozen in place as he watched the scene unfold before his eyes. He was amazed by such display of power, that could only be understood by those who knew how his ability worked. And right after that, he knew he had to do something. _I… I have to get out of here NOW!_

But it was already too late. The moment he took a step back, the red eyes of death had met his, telling him that he could no longer run away.

 **Between the Lines**

In midst the heated discussion, the man with dark blueish hair and a mechanical left eye let out a heavy sigh. He wished he could smoke a cigar to calm down a little, but doing that at the moment would not only be extremely impolite, but it would also anger even further the other people in the room, and it was for the best that he avoided doing that as much as possible.

After all, even though everyone was on the edge because the project was on the verge of being cancelled, he and his team were the ones to be the most affected if that ended up happening.

Still, even his patience was reaching its limit. The discussion was going in circles ever since before the date changed, and every second he wasted here was one second less he would have available to finish his work, which could be the end for him since the deadline was just around the corner.

"This is unacceptable!" Said one of the white coated man on the other side of the table. "Pushing back the experiments like this will ruin the whole schedule! Not to mention that the level shift could end up failing if we take too long! And what if we end up running out of resources on the long run because of this?"

"Watch your tone, Amai!"

*sigh*

Things were going like this for way too long and there was no sign that the situation would change anytime soon. No, he knew that the worst was yet to come. When driven to a corner, humans tended to recur to some nasty methods to relieve their minds and save themselves from the consequences. It was just a matter of time until that happened.

"Amai, I understand what you're trying to say, but we are going to waste even more time and resources if those earthquakes were to disrupt yet another experiment. This is the safest way to approach the problem."

The man named Amai still didn't looked satisfied and turned to the fellow participants one by one looking for support… until his eyes landed on the man listening to everything halfheartedly. "In that case, why don't the ones responsible for our slow progress don't fill up any expenses caused by those delays?"

 _Ah… there it is. Now they're blaming whoever they can. So predictable._ The man, who was paying more attention to the charts his co-worker had just sent him, moved only his bionic eye to stare back at the man that had just accused him. "So now you intend to make the smaller teams, that can barely keep up with the rushed schedule that didn't took into consideration the number of members at all, pay for something that was inevitable? Please. We have the least money and manpower out of everyone here, we suffered from having our equipment stolen during the relocation we were against from the start, and yet we have been working overtime every day to make up for that. We wish for the success of this project more than anyone. Save your energy to find a solution for the problem instead of using it to blame the weakest."

Amai could only fall silent after such a that. But the damage had already been done, as someone else stood up and yelled. "It's hard to believe in your words when you are wasting your time with unnecessary things!"

"... What are you implying?"

"I'm just saying that if your division focused all of their efforts on the tasks you were given instead of doing _side jobs_ for who knows who, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

This accusation sent the whole room into a ruckus, and the scar faced man shook his head. Unfortunately, he was right. They were fulfilling the tasks just to be considered part of the whole project, but their goal was to just be able to analyze the powers of an electromaster based on the Railgun so they could implement it on their real work. Needless to say, admitting it out loud would lead to severe consequences. No one was supposed to know about it, and yet, it seemed that someone felt suspicious about the eventually. And they weren't the only ones, as several accusations were being made one after another at other people now that someone brought the topic up.

The chaos seemed like it would never end until the youngest of the group raised her hand. " _Excuse me_. May I say something?"

The totally out of place calm and notorious voice caught everyone's attention as they stopped arguing and looked at the girl's expressionless face. The director was astonished by her ability to take control of the situation by doing absolutely nothing. "S-sure, Nunotaba-san."

Nodding, the girl stood up slowly and elegantly before talking in the same monotone voice. " _Mr. Hashimoto_. You're absolutely right. It is a fact that the smaller teams are the ones suffering the most in this crisis. Still, I'm yet to hear any complaint coming from them." That comment alone made a lot of the present people - Amai included - to look away in embarrassment. "I just took a quick look at the budget distribution, and the fact that those groups have barely enough to keep going. _So_ , how is it wrong if they have to look for other ways to increase the income to keep working on the project?"

Murmurs resounded on the room as she kept talking. " _By the way_ , since we are discussing the matter, I must admit that my division even received official approval to awake numbers 19997 and 19998 in order to research a way to stop the accelerated metabolism, in case other clones were to be used military purposes in the future."

And then, everyone turned to face the director, who had a troublesome look on his face. This was probably meant to be kept secret from the others. Trying to pay innocent, he asked. "And are there any risks that doing that would interfere in their respective experiments?"

" _No problem._ There shouldn't be any issues. And in the case any complication happens, those two could simply be replaced."

"Good. Then I guess this settles things up. And it also solves any resources problems that could be caused by any delays." He said while looking at Amai, who was still unquiet, but didn't expressed any objections.

 _Lies. The superintendent is backing the project from behind the curtains. You are just pocketing most of this money, you lecher._ Hashimoto - the blue haired man turned his attention back to the charts while this thought crossed his mind. He would have to thank that Nunotaba girl later for saving him from the trouble they had put him into.

* * *

 **Damn this took a while to write. This time of the year is just the worst for me, I get so busy that I barely have time to eat (no kidding). And even though I made you all wait, this chapter is just another build up… sorry. I hope Seria's explanation wasn't too boring to read. The important thing now is that Hishiro and Asuka are now aware of the situation: they have a phantom enemy in Academy City that can attack them from within the group.**

 **It is really late in the night right now, so I'll skip my usual comment on the story right into the replies this time.**

 **Guest (1): I'm trying to find a good balance between situations Hishiro can breeze trough and battles that he have to struggle to even survive. Since he got his ass kicked a lot and left to Index to outsmart the villain in the last arc, I thought it would be okay for his plans to work a little better last chapter (kinda), since he would fail in his mission anyway. Have I overdone it though? Please feel free to tell me if I did, my goal is to make the story as enjoyable as possible, and I know that an OP character can ruin that. And… yeah, you can bet he is going to get his ass kicked again next chapter. Hard. XP**

 **Guest (2): Glad to know you like it! Thanks for the review!**

 **Sargent Crash: Yes, that's exactly it! Several small gears spinning at their own pace with no regard if the ones around them can keep up or will end up damaged, and all unknowingly helping the the greater scheme. Happy to know you're linking, and don't worry, what's coming up is really crazy, but I'm leaving new hints every chapter (especially in this chapter), so you'll end up grasping the whole scenario soon enough.**

 **At last, my special thanks for the guest sniping my typos and for Banditz for helping me with plot details. You guys are awesome! See you all… next… zzzzzzzzz...**


	22. One Way Road

**IV**

 **Chapter 22: What Can't Be Reached By Brute Force**

 **One_Way_Road**

 **Part 1**

The situation was beyond hopeless. Hishiro was just a couple of steps away from the corner he had just turned in the back alley, but against Accelerator, that distance was meaningless. The white demon could reach him and end his life in a fraction of a second before he could have any chance to turn around and run. However, that monster was approaching him slowly step by step instead of doing that. Was he mocking him? Gauging his intentions? Waiting for Hishiro to make the first move and crush any hope he had of surviving after that? It was impossible to tell by just looking at his face.

Trying to keep his distance, the unfortunate boy staggered backwards while he slowly reached for his revolver inside his pocket. Since he didn't had his usual jacket today, he couldn't bring all his arsenal he kept hidden within it, so that's the only weapon he had at the moment. Six bullets and no reloader. Accelerator noticed the motion and suddenly stopped, twisting his mouth into a sick grin that screamed "you're dead".

 _What can I possibly do now? It doesn't looks like I can talk my way out of this, and this gun is nothing but a toy compared to his powers._ Wrecking his brain as he looked for a solution, he failed to notice the other boy's move. Actually, even if he was 150% focused, he would still have a hard time understanding what had just happened. After taking one last step, Accelerator simply vanished from his sight with a high pitched wind noise. And in a split of a moment later, he heard a voice from behind. "Where are you going?"

!

Surprised, Hishiro jumped forward and turned around to find the #1 esper standing just a step away from where he was. Surely he was just toying with him before giving the final blow. _Tsk… I won't let that happen!_ The desperate boy thought out a plan and quickly drew his revolver, shooting as fast as he could to not give his enemy enough time to react.

Unfortunately, no time was needed. When the bullet was about to hit Accelerator's right shoulder, it simply flew back towards the same direction it came from. However, that was not a blind reckless attack, Hishiro predicted that this could happen and activated his ability right after he pulled the trigger, slowing down the projectile and giving him an chance to dodge. All the bullet did was scratch his cheek before hitting a wall behind him. Still, that was way closer than he had expected and left his hands covered in cold sweat.

"Hoh? Seems like you at least have some intelligence, unlike the others." Said the white demon, slightly lifting his heel. "Still, you're not smart enough to stay away from me huh? AHAHAHAHAHA!" And he softly tapped the ground with it in the middle of his mad laugh.

Hishiro failed to notice the attack coming and was suddenly sent flying in the air. Seeing Accelerator jump towards him, he activated his ability and stopped raising sooner than the other male predicted, making him miss him by a mile. That didn't help him for long, as the attacker landed a dropkick on his stomach before he could touch the ground, speeding up his fall.

The brown haired male could do nothing this time and had his back hit the floor with enough strength to make his whole body crack, which was only worsened by the fact Accelerator was still standing above him. "Gaaaaaa-AAAH!" This was probably the strongest strike he had ever taken in his whole life. He was actually impressed that he was still alive after that one.

His vision was blurred by a moment as blood leaked from his mouth, but he managed to see the other boy ready to stomp on him. Hishiro barely escaped by rolling to the side, but the shockwave created by the attack sent him crashing towards the wall of the building ten meters away from him. The impact actually left some cracks on the wall and he was afraid that he had broken something this time. He got up as fast as he could in his current state just in time to sidestep a charge from the #1.

 _If this continue for too long, I'll end up dying for sure! But just as I thought, no direct attacks are effective. Then my only option is really to…_ He had a plan, but would that kind of thing actually work on Accelerator out of all people?

The other male didn't wait for him to make up his mind and charged towards him again. Hishiro ended up tripping down on the body of a knocked out thug when he tried to dodge. He got out of the way of the attack, but he fell on his butt and hit his back on a trash dumpster. Accelerator reached him before he could get up and aimed a stomp for his chest, which Hishiro avoided by throwing himself to the side despairdly.

Accelerator's foot dug into the dumpster, deforming the steel structure. Annoyed, he clicked his tongue and pulled his leg back, dragging the whole thing along with it, as if it was glued on the sole of his shoe. "Here, let me put you where you belong!" After turning to the side, he made a heel kick motion and sent the dumpster flying at the other boy, who widened his eyes and tried to get away with no success. "Oh crap- ARGH!"

The large steel object hit the boy's right arm, bending it unnaturally and making he fall one more time. This time he was sure his arm was broken, as there was a weird numb sensation on his shoulder following the maddening pain. Still, he was lucky that that was all. The dumpster landed on another wall, cracking it from the ground to the roof. If he had taken a clean hit from that…

"This is insane..." Hishiro said, dumbfold at both the strength of the attack and the fact he was still breathing after it. He got to his knees and saw Accelerator slowly walking towards him again. The battle had gone for barely a minute and he was almost in a state he could almost no longer fight, while the other was intact.

"Are you done already?" Said the white demon, stopping just two steps away from him.

"Are you kidding me? I was done after the first hit..." It hurt his pride, but he had to admit he stood no chance in a head on battle against this monster. But.. _Ten seconds. If I can keep him from moving during ten seconds, I might be able to stop his heartbeat and get away from here!_ Standing up he made a self-deprecating smile and kept talking in a mocking tone. "But I guess you won't let me go if I throw the towel now, will you?"

"Not before I'm satisfied punishing you for ever thinking of challenging me."

"Yeah… that won't do." Hishiro took his stance again and started the countdown. If Accelerator noticed he was messing with his body, it was all over. If he moved before his heart stopped, he had to start all over again. And his only resource to try and keep that monster from attacking him were his remaining five bullets of his revolver, which weren't even effective against the #1.

10… 9… 8…

"Well then..."

Accelerator dashed forward. Hishiro predicted his movement and sidestepped perfectly this time, making sure he had his gun really close to his foe's eyes in the process and pulling the trigger at the right time.

Of course, his aim wasn't to shot him. The boy hoped that the light, heat or the burnt gunpowder could at least do something to his vision despite his impenetrable vectorial armor. And in fact, the #1 stopped for a moment after the action.

 _Now's my chance!_

10… 9… 8… 7… 6…

"Do you think that'll work on me?" Accelerator turned around and kicked the air, making the floor crack broken and sending half a dozen of concrete pieces towards Hishiro. On instinct, he dissipated the field inside his enemy and made another one in front of himself in order to block the attack, but the projectiles were too fast and heavy for him to slow them down in such a short distance. One of them struck his chest and another opened a gash on his forehead. He held his ground though, and stared at the other male while clicking his tongue in annoyance. Four bullets left…

Hishiro took initiative this time and dashed forward while aiming his gun using his left arm. The white demon widened his grin and spread out his arms, welcoming the incoming attack. But again, the three shots fired were never supposed to hit him. Instead, they flew past him towards the pipes that ran along the wall, which was damaged by Accelerator's attack earlier. Two of them hit, and the already weakened structure started to collapse on top of the white haired boy. By then, Hishiro had already activated his ability and counted silently as he watched everything and got ready to fire his last remaining bullet to give him enough time if needed.

5… 4… 3…

Accelerator smile was replaced by a bored expression when he lifted his head, looking at the pathetic attempt of the desperate boy. Without even bothering to move, he let all the pipes fall over him, redirecting them twice as fast towards random directions, some even hitting the unconscious people he had already defeated.

2…

Hishiro pulled the trigger one last time, aiming for the center of the other boy's body, and jumped to the left at the exact same time in order to avoid the redirected bullet. But instead of coming back at the same direction like last time, Accelerator predicted he would do that and shifted the angle, sending the projectile to Hishiro's already injured right arm, drawing a loud scream of pain from him.

1…

The brown haired male endured the pain and made an extraordinary effort to keep his focus. While he landed on his back, he created yet another field on Accelerator's feet, intending to keep him in place for just one more second at all costs. The sudden action earned him an intense headache and an intense pressure on his body that only increased the pain of his injuries.

0.

With this, the fight was over.

Hishiro was laying on the ground, barely able to move a muscle. Accelerator nonchalantly made his way towards the downed boy _while his feet were under the effect of Null Inertia._

"I gotta say, you have a bit of creativity in you. I'll give you credit for not doing the same stupid shit as everyone else. But..." The #1 lifted the defeated male by his hair. "What a shame. Your cheap tricks are all useless!" Moving his arm, he launched Hishiro crashing to the wall, drawing another yell of pain out of him. But he was far from done. He would make the boy pay. How dare such a weak kid even think for a moment that he could outclass him?

"What are you doing? - Asks Misaka trying to understand the situation in the experiment location."

Accelerator stopped on his tracks after hearing the new voice. He knew all too well to whose it belonged. "Tsk. What a timing..."

Standing on the opposite entrance of the alley was a chestnut haired girl, wearing Tokiwadai's uniform, military goggles and carrying a heavy looking gun. "Misaka's timing is just right, as there are only five minutes left before the experiment begins - explains Misaka as she informs that it is almost time-"

"I know, I know..." Annoyed, Accelerator turned around to face her, letting out a sigh while scratching his head.

"Misaka needs to remind you that taking part in battles before the experiment might compromise the result - says Misaka hoping that you do not take such actions in the future."

"Don't worry about this mess. This was hardly a battle. It's more like a warm up exercise." He answers with a sadist grin, but she doesn't seems to react to it at all, pissing off the male. "Gimme just a minute and I'll take out the trash."

The Level 5 was about to return to what he was doing before being interrupted, but noticed that the person he had just beat was no longer there. "..."

"If you're looking for that boy, he left through there just a moment ago - says Misaka as she points to the corner and wonders if that was the same boy from the last time."

"Tsk, no shit! He obviously got awa- wait, what was that you just said?"

"He was tumbling while holding his arm towards-"

"No, not that! Have you met him before?!"

Misaka just tilted her head to the side, lost in thought. Accelerator had half a mind to beat the truth out of her, but he held that urge back. The experiment was about to begin anyway. Not to mention…

"Hey, the cameras are only supposed turn on on the given time, right?"

"Exactly. All equipment regarding the experiment is activated when the experiment begins - answers Misaka as she consults the protocols."

Accelerator couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he studied the camera. He was absolutely sure it was moving just a before he faced it. _What the hell is going on here?_

 **Part 2**

"Cough! Cough! Ugh..."

Hishiro vomited blood one last time before leaving the alley. His whole body was shaking. Not from the pain, but from the terror of the being he had just faced. _Just… what the heck was that? He should have been unable to move… so why?_

"Ugh! D-dammit..."

His line of thought got interrupted when another wave of pain showered on his body, forcing him down on a knee. He tried to get up again leaning on the wall, but his effort was futile, he simply couldn't gather enough strength on his arms and legs. Every time he breathed in it made his chest hurt so much that he wish he could just stop breathing. But doing so would make him cough out even more blood.

The scene started drawing attention from the people on the street, but no one had the will to help him as he would stare coldly at anyone that got too close. Still, he couldn't go much longer on his state. After dragging himself until just before the crossroads using the wall as support, his legs finally gave in and he slowly slid down the wall, sitting on the walkway. _No… I can't stop here… what if he's still after me?_

He tried to get up again, but all strength left his body and his vision started to black out. Clinging to his consciousness for his dear life, all he could see was a girl with twin pigtails and an armband walking towards him. Or was it? Probably due to the loss of blood, the image got overlapped with another on his mind and the colors around him got distorted. While he was dazed, she pulled him by his left arm to help him stand up and dragged him away as he leaned on her.

... **  
**

The "battle" ended quickly as always, and all that was left behind was a bloody mess. Accelerator stood alone in the middle of it all, looking blankly at the scene. None of his previous behavior could be found on him, as his expression just gave off an unsatisfied feeling.

He had won before he knew it while his mind was somewhere else entirely. It was tragically comical that he didn't even remember that girl's serial number as he wasn't listening to her at all. What would the researchers think of this fight? That didn't concern the boy. It wasn't his fault that she couldn't put up that much of a fight. More over, it was _their_ fault that he couldn't focus.

Glancing one last time to the camera prepared specially for the experiment, he made his way out of the alley. _It's time to pay those bastards a visit._

 **Part 3**

*Beep-Beep*

The sound coming from the interphone broke away Hashimoto's concentration. Sighing in annoyance, he was about to ignore the sudden call when he noticed it was coming from the security staff. Taking his hands away from the keyboard, he pressed the button on the device on his right while his bionic eye kept looking at the monitor. "Hashimoto here. What's the problem?"

"He's here! He took out most of our men and made his way into the facility! We don't have the means to deal with this!"

The voice that came from the interphone didn't belong to the head of security, making the blue haired man frown. Given the situation he described, this person was probably just a regular guard that took the initiative to call him in the middle of the commotion. But what exactly was happening? "Who? Who is the one attacking?"

"It's the #1, Accelerator!"

"What?!"

 _This is impossible. This facility in particular has no official link to the experiment whatsoever. How did he found us? What does he want? Is this just a coincidence?_

"Boss! He's getting closer! What should we do?"

Rubbing his temples, He focused on finding a solution quickly to give him time. "Stop him at all costs! No matter what happens, do not let him reach the enginery lab or the warehouse containing the prototypes! Mobilize the Scorpion units if needed, but you have to hold your posts until reinforcement arrives, understood?"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Cutting the communication there, Hashimoto took his personal phone and called the first number as fast as he could. "Takayama-san, we have an emergency here!"

"Why must it always be bad news?" Ignoring her complaints, he explained the situation to her. "Ah, I see. I had a feeling something could happen, but to think he would attack directly..."

"What do you mean?"

"We had a chance to get some interesting data on his powers earlier before the experiment, but Ike-kun made a mistake while handling the cameras and the boy noticed what was going on. And then we had a strange access to the database… now I understand why. We can't underestimate that one."

"Ike, huh… the poor kid hadn't left the lab for more than a week now, had him? Remember to send him home later. But now we need you here asap. Do you still have the Capacity Down Therestina-san gave us?"

"Sure, but I don't think we'll need it. I'll be there in about 15 minutes. Can you handle the situation until then?"

"I suppose so… but by then, your creations will be just scraps. I hope you don't mind it."

There was a short pause before the reply. "It's a shame, but it can't be helped. At least, let's take this opportunity to gather some data, so this won't feel like a total waste."

…

On the outside of the facility, which looked like an abandoned factory, all that could be heard were the continuous explosions and the terrified screams from the security staff. And in the center of it all was the white haired boy, slowly walking towards the gate that led to the inside of the building, without a single scratch on his body.

More guards appeared outside of Accelerator's field of view and surrounded him, wielding large rifles and riot shields. At someone's command, they all fired at once. Of course, all of the bullets were redirected, but the shields protected the shooters who just kept unloading their guns. Their goal was not to take him down, but to delay his advance.

The boy smiled and complimented the tact on his mind, even thought it was still not enough. Faster than anyone there could follow with their eyes, the #1 made his way to one of the men in front of him and kicked his shield, sending the person flying backwards. Then he simply tapped the shields of the two on either of his sides, completely destroying them. As all of that happened in a split of a second, no one had time to understand what had just happened and take their fingers out of the trigger, resulting in those two unfortunate guards being hit by dozens of shots.

"Uh oh, does that count as an work accident? It would be bad for their families if they don't receive an indemnity for that." Said the with a cold grin on his face.

One of the guards couldn't take the mock and readied to fire his gun. "Y...you monster!"

"Me? You were the ones that shot them, right? AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Accelerator's comment made the man hesitate for a moment and that's all he needed. He lightly kicked one of the bullet capsules lying on the ground, sending it at supersonic speed towards the man. The projectile pierced through the rifle he was holding and struck the helmet hard enough to knock the guard out.

Seeing that, the others gave up and dropped their weapons one by one before running away screaming things like "I don't wanna die yet!" or "They don't pay me enough for this!". While wondering if it was worth chasing them down, an extremely powerful explosion happened on the white demon's shoulder. Unharmed, he simply wiped the ashes from his clothes and turned around to see what had attacked him.

And what he found there was an army of eight legged powered suits equipped with a massive missile launcher attached to its back like a stinger. On the front, aside from the machine guns, two mechanic arms extended out with circular saws on it. The overall design vaguely resemble a scorpion. Perhaps those even crossed the lines of what a powered suit was and should be classified as tanks.

Without any warning, they all fired their missiles that were about half the size of a security robot towards him. Accelerator did nothing besides sigh in annoyance as the bomber raid exploded all around him, enveloping the whole place in a sea of flames. In front of it, the machines stood still, waiting to confirm the situation of their target before taking further action, but were ready to fire again if needed.

About ten seconds later, the boy emerged from the fire like a bullet, aiming to reach the nearest Scorpion robot. More missiles were launched, but he simply ran past them without setting them off and punched the right leg of the weapon, which skidded backwards but kept standing after the strike, ready to keep the assault. Accelerator widened his eyes at the unexpected result. "Heh… I didn't use that much power just now, but it should have been enough to blow that shit up. You guys have some interesting toys. Be sure to last long enough to making me coming here worth it!"

He took off again, going for the same unit he had just attacked. The Scorpions couldn't use their missiles at such short distance, so the fired their machine guns instead, hoping to get past the boy's ability by the sheer number of rounds they were firing. But even then, all of it was repelled and set back to the ones that fired it.

When the white demon got close enough, the machine activated its circular saws and tried to cut his head off with it. Before it could connect, he grabbed the saw with his bare hand and pulled it, ripping the whole arm off the rest of the weapon. He then followed up by grabbing the other arm and lifting the damn thing off the ground before sending it crashing into another unit.

Neither of them seemed to have received any damage though, as they quickly stood up and got ready to attack again. Accelerator also noticed that the redirected bullets left not even a scratch on the powered suit's armors. He had no idea on what exactly those were, but they were tough as heck.

This realization bought a joyful and insane expression to his face and he stomped the ground hard, creating a shockwave strong enough to send half a dozen of the machines high in the air. Afterwards he jumped up himself and heel kicked one of them back to the ground hard enough to dig it into a large crater, where it struggled a bit to move. _It is still active even after that? Amazing!_ Excited, he finally decided to stop holding back and dive kicked it with all he got, finally destroying it in a mushroom shaped blast.

The others, however, adjusted their positions in mid air and landed on their feet softly as if nothing had happened. They fired another barrage of missiles, and this time, Accelerator took cover behind one of them instead of taking the attack head on. He could endure the hit easily, but he had something else in mind. As the projectiles exploded, the powered suit that took the blast dismantled into a hundred of pieces.

The boy used the scraps of metal as ammo and launched them at the nearest machine, which tried to defend from the attack with its arms, but the limbs couldn't endure the impact and got ripped off. Still, the main body was mostly unaffected.

The #1 approached it in a second and placed his hand on the metal monster. "I'm curious… just how much can you guys take?!" And slowly, he pressed on it, increasing the force bit by bit. Without its limbs, the machine couldn't fight back, and Accelerator made sure to make the vectors hold it in place, so escaping wasn't an option either. It was only a matter of time until the strength of the vectors would be too much for it. Still, it resisted way beyond anything he had ever seen. At some point, he could hear something that sounded like a rotor from within it, as a bit of steam escaped from the junctions. By then, the pilot jumped off and ran away in terror.

Finally, a bent appeared on the hull, and it triggered a chain reaction that kneaded the whole weapon as if it was a soda can before it burst into flames. Satisfied with the result, Accelerator lifted it and launched the giant fireball into another unit that was approaching while he was playing around with that one, exploding it as well.

The boy kept toying with the powered suits, taking his time to destroy them one by one until there were only two of them left. "*Yaaaaawwwwwn* It seemed fun at first, but you still lacked fire power. Well then, time to finish this."

"Hold it! That's enough already!"

From the other side of a fire wall, a woman in a lab coat with twin ponytails and large round glasses came walking nonchalantly, followed by a dozen of men and women trying to fight off the fire. Accelerator didn't recognize her, but given the situation, she probably was among the staff of the facility - and thus, was somehow linked to the level 6 shift project. "So they finally sent someone to properly welcome my arrival. Took your damn time."

"That's what happens when you come without warning and make such a big mess in the front gate. You could just ask to get in, you know."

"Really? Even though this place isn't officially registered to be related to the experiments?"

The woman giggled and stopped a dozen of steps away from him. "Well, even though the aim of this facility is not directly related to the project, it does belongs to our group. So you don't have to worry, we aren't hiding anything from you in that regard."

Accelerator still felt suspicious towards her, but dropped the hostility for the time being and simply kept staring, waiting for her to continue. She took a look at the scenery and sighed. "Good grief… most of _my children_ are completely destroyed. And I thought they had enough in into them to hold on at least until I arrived."

"They were sturdy", he admitted, "but that's what you get when you fill them up with Napalm and do not use any fire resistant materials."

"They were built to be resistant to impacts and that's all. The metal used on the hull is already too heavy, so any extra protection would prejudice it's performance. Though this does creates the flaw you described. I guess that's why everyone else considered it to be a failure." She explained while patting the leg of one of the two that were still standing. Their pilots were long gone by now. "Well then, since you're here, why don't I show you around? I assume you're still suspicious of us after all."

"I would rather take a look on my own."

"Can you promise you won't break anything if I let you do that?"

"What, do you expect to stop me if I decide to do so while you're around?"

With that, the woman smiled in a eerie way and lowered her head in a way that her glasses flashed, hiding her eyes beneath it. "You think I can't? Don't let your power get over your head, child. The human body is fragile. There are countless ways to harm it that do not involve any vectors."

He felt a killing intent coming from her that was totally different from the ones he felt from thugs or the guards just now. It was filled with certainty instead of probability and hope. He was ready to challenge her to try out of curiosity, but then she suddenly dropped her attitude and said in a kind tone. "But of course, I wouldn't go as far as that with my _student_ , right?"

"What?"

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Takayama Kyrie, one of your teachers at Nagatenjouki Academy… on paper, at least. Nice to meet you." She then walked past him, signaling for him to come along. The sudden change in the atmosphere utterly destroyed any battle spirit left in Accelerator, which followed her murmuring "weird woman."

…

After walking for twenty minutes within the laboratory and the factory while Takayama explained the workings of the facility, they finally reached the warehouse located on the center of the terrain. Unlike the other places, it was locked and no one seemed to be working there. The glasses woman pressed her palm against a reader and the large gate leading inside opened. "And at last, this is where we store the samples that resulted from our research. It's usually rather empty with just a couple of them inside, but we have been experiment different designs and testing their efficiency lately, so it's kinda crumpled right now."

There were no lamps there, so it was kinda difficult to see everything that was inside, but the boy knew what those things were. Just like the ones he had fought a while ago, the room was filled with powered suits of many different kinds and bizarre shapes. In front of each of then, there were plates with some kind of identification that read 5o#3-McR(P004), 5o#3-McR(P005) and so on… following the pattern, the boy estimated that he would find a model named P020 at the end of the first row - and that's just for the first row.

However, since he never saw anything that pointed towards what he was suspecting, his interest in all of it was long gone. Still, he didn't looked satisfied just yet. Takayama knew what was worrying him. "You're still concerned about the equipment during the experiment, right? You think we are secretly researching your ability."

The white demon said anything and just casted her a side glance while she continued. "As a matter of fact, we are the ones that developed the devices used in the experiments. What you saw earlier was just a test run because those were presenting errors. We didn't intended to look into your private matters or anything."

Hearing that, Accelerator turned around and headed to the exit saying "That doesn't explain that boy though."

"Which boy?" She asked, raising a brow.

"... Never mind that."

The glasses woman sighed in relief that he didn't inspected all of the powered suits. After all, there was a very special unit further inside the warehouse. One whose plate was slightly different from the others: 5o#1-McA(P013)

 **Between the Lines**

The following report summarizes the events that occurred in August 8, as well as their implications.

Therestina Kihara Lifeline had taken custody of the Child Errors that were used in the development of the body crystal, in an attempt to refine it further to turn Haruue Erii into a level 6. Her actions had no previous notice and caused quite a ruckus among the higher ups. If she were to be successful, it would destroy the whole point of the level 6 shift project. For the better or the worse, her plan was stopped by the #3 and the children woke up from their comatose.

In her confrontation with the Railgun, Therestina made use of the first 5o prototype. We were aware that the power output was still inferior to the original (though this was deliberately hidden from Therestina), but by the data gathered in the battle, we concluded that we were going to the wrong direction from the very beginning. Versatility is more important than the raw power, and that's what differ weapons from espers. Our goal is not to develop a weapon, but that's all we have done so far.

With that in mind, units 002 to 006 were adjusted accordingly, and 004 in particular has shown excellent results in the many uses of an electromaster powers. However something is still lacking: experience. The knowledge acquired through practical use is something we believed that only the user could develop on the long run, but there might be a way to implement it into the machine itself.

The Sisters share their memories and experiences through the MISAKA network, thus the next will always be superior than the previous regardless of not having experienced an actual battle before. Using the same concept, we could add this functionality to the 5o's, but for that to work, all users must be linked by the same brainwave, which could be lethal based on the results shown by the Level Upper.

Still, if a "brainwave translator" were present, then this would no longer be an issue. Needless to say, we don't have the proper specialists in order to research the possibility of creating this. Our only option is to find someone with experience in the area that could bring results quickly to meet the deadlines. The only one that fit this criteria and is currently within our reach is...

...

Kiyama Harumi.

With the children awake, she would no longer be under Heaven Canceler's protection. This was the opportunity many organizations in the dark side were waiting for.

To increase the efficiency of the MISAKA network.

To improve the Testament.

To help finish developing a special brain for an artificial body.

To create a network accessible to all users of a certain tool.

As an apprentice of Kihara Gensei and the developer of the Level Upper, she would be dragged into the abyss of the darkness by the distorted desires of those living within it without a chance to resist.

That's what the twin pigtail Judgment girl waiting in the hallway of the hospital suspected it would happen. And by the movement of the ones she was keeping an eye on, it seemed that her prediction was correct. "... as if I'll let that happen."

* * *

 **And with that, Accelerator makes his brutal and majestic debut in the backstage. It wasn't my intention at first, but this chapter became centered around him (which is totally not because he is my favorite character or anything). I guess it's way too fun to mess around with his abilities - though I had to hold back a bit to avoid some plot holes. If there's enough window for him to show up again after the accident, I'll make sure to go wild. XD**

 **So Hishiro got a beating again. Poor guy tried his best but wasn't enough. And if anyone was curious: Null Inertia is useless against Accelerator. His vectorial control simply takes priority over it due to the sheer strength of the ability of a lv 5 vs a lv 3.**

 **On to the replies now:**

 **Guest(1): Yes, he at least survived but… ouch.**

 **Guest (2): Sharp observation. Even Hishiro was surprised she apologized, and that was all part her plan to take the reins of the conversation back. First of all, keep in mind that they are all allies (for the time being, as anything can happen in the dark side of Academy City), so she doesn't need to go miles away to manipulate them. But even though she is not "messing with their minds", she is following her own strategy and pulling the right threads to make they act, despite how unreasonable is what she wants them to do. The thing is that she made a couple of mistakes regarding the info she passed to them, which made it difficult for her to just rebute Hishiro. So no, she didn't hesitate because he was angry, she just held back to not make any contradictions in her argument… and that's just one of the reasons. Take a look again at her talk with Kaizumi in Chapter 10, compare what she said in chapter 21 and you might see that she is still playing the calculist she is. Still, I wonder if how could I have handled that scene better… it would've been easier to just write from her perspective, but then I would end up giving too many hints. Those are the moments my lack of experience shows of, unfortunately.**

 **As for the Shizuri being afraid of his anger, that was just an hyperbole, she does have enough power to kill him in one hit, and all he can do to fight back is bluff his way into making her not doing that.**

 **Sargent Crash: Yeah, it wouldn't be fun if nothing happened, right? Accel just attacked because Hishiro prepared to attack, and he only did so because he thought Accel would attack first. If he had just walked away… it would end up being a pretty boring chapter. XP**

 **One last thing… I wonder if anyone figured out the secret behind the serial codes by now (not that difficult btw) or about the Judgment girl...**


	23. Low Probability

**IV**

 **Chapter 23: Breaking Into the Steel Hive**

 **Low_Probability**

 **Part 1**

A new urban legend was born.

Students from many different districts have been talking about it.

They say that even though MAR said that there were no mortal victims of the earthquakes, that's not exactly true.

They say that there was one girl that came from a rich and influential family from overseas to Academy City about six months ago. That girl had lived her whole life under the guidance of her strict parents and had no freedom until she arrived here. She lived quietly under the discipline she had learned at first, but the temptation of this sudden freedom got the best of her over time.

That's why she broke the curfew to meet some friends in the festival that was happening during that night. The night that boy confessed to her. The night that was supposed to be the happiest memory of her life.

However, soon after she said goodbye to her friends, a poltergeist happened. MAR used their Powered Suits to avoid letting anyone get hurt due to the landslide, but they failed to notice that that girl fell down a few meters away from it when the handrail gave away. She landed head first on the ground below, behind some bushes and died instantly. Her body was hidden by the vegetation and was only found on the next day when repairs were being made.

Ambassadors contacted her family and an agreement to cover up the case was made to avoid diplomatic complications between Academy City and her home country. However, someone wasn't happy with how everything went.

This someone… was the girl herself.

Besides the grief of having her life ending so soon, her spirit couldn't take the fact that no one was crying for her death. Her parents simply treated her like a tool, like they always did. Her friends were told she moved back home, and even though they were a little sad, they lived on as if nothing had happened. Soon enough, no one would remember she had even existed.

And ever since then, once the clock hits midnight, her ghost vagued through the dark streets of academy city and attacked anyone it could find, trying desperately to make herself recognized so her memory would finally be given the treatment it deserves.

…

"G-geez, Saten-san! That's why you wanted to go out that late in the night?"

"What, don't tell me you're scared, Uiharu?"

Saten, who brought up the urban legend topic, poked fun at Uiharu. Besides those two, the only other person that was sharing the table with them was Kuroko, who hadn't touched her cake at all and kept looking at the screen of her earplug-like cellphone. "Frankly, Uiharu. Only you would would fall for such unscientific story. There's no way this is real."

The flower-hair girl looked mad and was about to talk back, but Saten was faster and turned her teasing looking eyes at Kuroko. "Hoh? Then why don't you come with me, Shirai-san? If you are so certain that this is fake, then there's nothing to worry about, riiiight?"

Closing her eyes, the Tokiwadai lady replied without wavering. "As a member of Judgment, I cannot allow normal students to stay out after the curfew. There are real dangers out there in the night that does not involve ghosts or anything of the sort."

"T-that's right, Saten-san! You can't do that!"

"Awww, you two are so boring..." Disheartened, the urban legend hunter sank in the chair and took a sip of her milkshake. "Even so, people are getting attacked, you know? A friend of mine said she heard the screams in the middle of the night."

"Though we weren't officially notified about that." Said Uiharu after finishing her ice cream. "If something is really happening, then maybe Anti-Skill is handling it already?"

The topic finally picked Kuroko's attention and her eyes moved away from the screen. She ate her dessert quickly without saying anything and stood up. "It won't hurt checking with them directly."

"Ah- wait, Shirai-san!" Uiharu protested too late as the teleporter was gone in a zap, leaving the other two friends behind.

"What's with her, leaving so suddenly?"

"It's probably because of Misaka-san..."

Talking about the one who had been absent from their group quite often recently, the two fell quiet and exchanged no more words until they left the shop.

…

Indeed, that was nothing more than a urban legend.

But urban legends didn't simply appear out of nowhere for no reason. They were result of incomplete information, with the curiosity and expeculation of the people that hear about them and pass them forward filling the gaps left by the unknown.

And in some cases, that's actually better than finding out the truth.

In the middle of the night, the _ghost girl_ waited patiently leaning on the light pole beside the road. She indeed looked like an elementary school girl, wore a brown uniform with a Judgment armband, a blue miniskirt and had her blond hair tied in twin pigtails.

Needless to say, she was very much alive and reacted when a luxurious vehicle approached from afar. The preparations were done beforehand, so she simply stood by and watched for the time being.

Without noticing, the driver rode the vehicle over the spikes on the road and drifted sideways before coming to a stop. Only then the girl made her move, walking to the middle of the road showing off her armband. "Halt! This is Judgment!"

The passengers inside were worried at first, but seeing just a single member of Judgment - one that looked just like a little child - they couldn't help but laugh, leaving the vehicle cracking their knuckles and grinning sickly at her. "Are you lost, little lady?"

She had been doing this kind of thing a lot recently, so she knew very well that it was useless to talk to them. Going right into business, she dashed forward at an impossible speed and tackled the man that had just talked to her, knocking him out in that single hit.

Before anyone else could react, she had already jumped about three meters in the air, out of the reach of any light present at the moment. In a blink, two more were down, her hands holding them by their faces as if she had smashed their heads into the asphalt.

A woman in a dark red suit drew out a gun and tried shooting the girl, but she swiftly escaped the bullets as if they were nothing. No, that wasn't all. It was as if the woman's aim was off the entire time. "T-this is impossible!"

"That's what you get from relying on your esper ability to aim, onee-san." After saying those words in a sweet tone, the girl kicked the older female on the neck and sent her flying far away.

Only two of them left. One of them took a step back, not wanting to act on impulse and getting defeated like the others. The other lifted his hand, and an unnatural gust of wind blew around the area, gathering at his palm. No doubt he was some kind of atmospheric manipulative esper.

The girl locked her eyes on him and smiled in a impish way. Soon after, the speed of the air gathered at his hand increased drastically, raising the pressure in the focus point of his ability. Surprised by the sudden change, he decided let go of it out of reflex, but that proved to be a mistake. Out of his control, the air flowed freely in its natural way, expanding all the concentrated mass that in every direction, resulting in a blast of wind that sent the two remaining foes flying in the air.

An unpleasant cracking sound echoed when they finally fell down. Surely they had broken more than just a couple of bones. The girl slowly approached the air control esper and stomped on his stomach hard enough to make him cough out some blood. He panicked and tried to crawl his way out, but she kept him pinned in place, her leg didn't move a single inch from his efforts. The amount of strength she had on her limbs was insane. Seeing that he couldn't power his way out, he decided trying talking to her. "O-okay, I give up! Arrest me if you want, but please don't kill me!"

Satisfied at his submission, she talked in a light tone that didn't match at all her current facial features. "Arresting you would do nothing if your boss is still free to do whatever he wants. But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I need you alive to pass on the message."

"W-w-what message?"

The girl leaned her face closer and increased the pressure on her foot, making the esper wince in pain. "Tell your superiors to stop. Kiyama-sensei is under my supervision. If they attempt to lay a finger on her once again, I'll be paying them a visit personally next time, and trust me, they don't want that to happen."

"Just… who in the world are you?"

She stepped away from his body and winked cutely while having her hands on her back. "I'm just a normal member of Judgment doing her job. But if you want my name... then Kihara should be more than enough, right?"

 **Part 2**

August 15, 12:00 PM

The blond girl has been fighting off the many shady organizations of the dark side every night for the past week, and sleep deprivation was finally starting to get to her. She wanted to stay home and rest for today to recover her energy, but this was the day she was waiting for ever since her battles started. So she fought back that urge, swallowed a few pills to keep herself awake and made her way to the hospital once again.

A week ago, while conducting a personal investigation, she came across an unlucky boy that had crossed paths with Accelerator and got beaten badly. As a member of Judgment, it was part of her duty to take action and bring him to the hospital for the proper treatment. However, she noticed right away there was more to that story than just that.

First of all, the boy had a gun.

She took it away from him before handing him over to the doctors. The correct procedure was to inform Anti-Skill right away about the fact. The thing is… that girl was not any member of Judgment, or rather, she wasn't only that.

She was a Kihara, a very peculiar one that was once called a failure by her relatives.

Guided by her curiosity, she used the gun as a basis and investigated the boy. The results were… interesting, to say the least.

After waiting for almost half an hour, the boy finally appeared, heading to the exit until his eyes met hers, making him stop. His expression quickly changed to a bitter one while she just smiled and approached him. "Congratulations on your discharge from the hospital, Hishiro onii-san."

…

"Hey, Shiro..."

"Shut up..."

"You know, I've been wondering for a while-"

"Shut up, Asuka! If you ask anything again I'll turn off the phone right now!"

"Onii-san, you just left the hospital. Getting agitated like this so soon won't be good for your body."

Noticing it was impossible to win against these two at the same time, Hishiro flopped over the table, wondering why he had even survived against Accelerator. The girl didn't mind him at all and just thanked the waitress that had just brought her juice.

Regaining some of his composure with considerable effort, Hishiro cleaned his throat and tried to talk his way out of the situation. "L-listen, I'm really grateful for what you've done, but could please leave me alone?"

The girl tilted her head in confusion and asked. "Huh? I was just worried about you. Were you bothered by it?"

"Cut out the cute act. You've been visiting me every single day since then, and I doubt you're the kind of person that would get that worried over some random person she just met, so you clearly want something out of me… right, miss Kihara Nayuta?"

She clearly wasn't expecting to be called by that name and comically stopped drinking, blinking a few times with the straw still inside her mouth. "Ah- Ahahaha, so you figured it out already? That's not fun. And I even went out of my way to hide it so well… How did you do that?"

"None of your business. Only a fool would spill out the beams in front of a Kihara."

"You're smarter than you look, onii-san." Placing the cup on the table, she took a deep breath with her eyes closed. Once she opened then, her face had twisted into an expression one wouldn't expect to see on an elementary school student. "It is true that I had to keep a tight leash around your neck. After all, you did escape from an hospital before, didn't you?"

Hishiro was already expecting her to be hiding her true nature, but it turned out to be a little more shocking than what he thought. Satisfied with his surprise, Nayuta sank in the chair and crossed her legs over the table, making sure the waitress wasn't looking at her. "Well, this makes things easier at least. That's right, there's something I need to get done, and I could make use of a good pawn like you."

The boy's eye twitched and he struck the table hard with both his hands. She definitely touched a nerve there. "Oh really? Just so you know, I'm not just a piece in some kind of messed game board. Thinking like that will only get yourself killed."

"Tsk tsk, it's the other way around, onii-san. A mere piece trying to play the player will only get itself killed meaninglessly. It may be harsh, but stick to your role okay? You barely have a grasp on the size of the game board, after all."

Hishiro was just a inch away from jumping on the girl's neck when Asuka finally cut in. "My, my, don't you like to act like an expert, Nayu-tan? Now I'm really curious to know how do you pretend to convince me to let you make use of my cute dear pawn."

"H-hey, Asuka! What the heck do you think you're saying?!"

"Shi~ro! You better be the one quiet right now, or else I'll turn off the call and let the stray dogs feed on you to their heart content~*!"

Her tone sounded like her usual playful one, but there was something frightening mixed in there that made the boy swallow his words and step back for the time being. _I hope she knows what she's doing…_

Nayuta grinned and answered happily. "Oh, it's simple. First - he owns his life to me. Second - what I'm about to propose here will probably interest you both as well, since you were after the people trying to reproduce esper powers with machines."

Asuka made a small pause before replying. "And why do you think that's the case?"

"No need to play dumb, I know everything about you two and New Pointer. Also, just a piece of advice: your hesitation just now was more than enough of a confirmation. If you want to keep yourself on the level of a Kihara, you need to work on information processing ability and keep your feelings on check."

 _Damn, this girl is no joke. She drove Asuka out of all people into a corner? No, more importantly, if she knows about New Pointer, then that means…!_ Hishiro put himself on guard and was ready to fight her at any time. After all, their life was being made difficult because someone was hijacking the information network between them and Seria, and to do that, they would need to know who they really are. Even Asuka feel silent, much for the amusement of the little Kihara.

"No need to worry, I have no intention to use this information against you. That is - as long as you are willing to help me."

"... go on." The voice coming from the communication device sounded slightly disheartened, something Hishiro had never heard before.

"All I want is to you to get rid of their group as soon as possible. I know their hideouts, workplaces, all the info you need to get them. But more importantly, their boss needs to be _taken care off_ at all costs, okay?"

"We can't do that." Hishiro answered before Asuka could say anything. "We have clear orders to stay on standby until an opportunity arises."

"That won't do, onii-san. I don't have enough time to wait for that. You're going to do as I say and attack them tomorrow night."

"What?!"

"After that it'll be too late." Nayuta made a serious face before continuing. "Those people are affiliated to the level 6 shift project, so they're obviously desperate. They need it to keep their research going, and the project is just two drops away from collapsing. No, actually one drop already fell, since someone seems to be attacking the facilities related to it. The higher ups are doing all they can to hide the chaos from the rest of the dark side to keep chaos from spreading, but they can't fool me. They still need to do another 10,000 experiments, and they won't last that long."

"Is it about the Sisters?" Asked Asuka. "What happens to them if the project is canceled?"

"Who knows. They could be handed over to another organization that may not be willing to cooperate with other groups, or they could be all discarded. That's exactly why they - who need the Sisters to do their research - are in a hurry. They are already mass producing those machines, even the ones at the testing stage, hoping to push out any results they can accomplish if the worst happens. Do you know what this means?"

Silence. Both Hishiro and Asuka knew very well. Even if they are still incomplete, those were made based on a Level 5 powers. The more of those they have, the more difficult the situation becomes. In fact, it could be impossible for Hishiro to handle it alone if they decided to put a single one of those to use.

"Fine..." The boy finally broke the silence. "Sounds like it'll be better to solve this sooner. But I don't get why are you even asking me to do this."

Nayuta placed her index finger on her chin and answered while looking upwards. "Hmmm… let's say they are a common enemy for the both of us. Is that enough for you?"

"Well, that was a given already. But I have the feeling you won't say anything further, so I'll just give up on that."

"A wise decision, onii-san." Finishing the juice, she leaped out of the chair and waved to Hishiro before heading to the exit. "I'll be sending you the details later. Be ready for tomorrow, okay?"

…

"What do you think, Asuka?"

The heavy sigh she let out was enough of an answer. "I hate to admit it, but she got us."

"Should we inform Seria about this?"

"I don't think it's a good idea. If this girl can really access our communication lines, she will notice right away."

"And I assume she will be keeping an eye on me, so a meeting is not an option either."

"Exactly. It will be easier to explain to Seria-chan later once we're done than to warn her now. And I bet she won't be happy to hear it at all."

"So what now? We're just gonna play her game? This sounds like a bad idea to me. If this is some kind of trap, I'm done for."

"There's that, but if there is truth in her words, waiting much longer would be suicidal as well. In any case… it's not like we have no means to fight back."

This made Hishiro abandon his frustration and grim in joy. "Oh yeah? That's what I like to hear. What do you have in mind?"

"For starters, we could blackmail her using this panty shot I took when she carelessly lifted her legs-" She was interrupted by a loud BANG caused by the boy flopping on the table again. "What's with this reaction? Here, let me send it to you-"

"JUST DON'T!"

"Are you sure you're not interested, _onii-san_?" Hishiro literally growled at her while she laughed, all the tension from before was gone from her voice.

 **Part 3**

August 19, 10:25 pm.

By this time, most people who had a job in Academy City would be in their homes, or at least heading there to rest after a long day of work. Some passionate researchers would work overtime every now and then, but alongside the night guards and Anti-Skill in patrols, those would be exceptions to the rule.

However, this wasn't the case for this facility in particular. Hishiro had been hiding on the brushes on standby outside for a few hours now, and not a single soul left the place, despite the large amount of vehicles parked around. "Just great… Are they expecting to be attacked or something?"

"It may sound funny, but it seems they were attacked in the last week. Turned out to be a misunderstanding, so it wasn't anything big." Informed Asuka as she scrolled through the results of her search. "And to be honest, there are very few records of vehicles going through the gates… actually, only the regular staff members of Nagatenjouki Academy and a few more moved in and out in the last 15 days. They must be really desperate to finish what they are doing there."

"Nagatenjouki Academy, huh..." The boy paused for a few seconds and narrowed his eyes, remembering what the Aleat had told him earlier that month. "I wasn't expecting to hear this name again so soon. It's just a coincidence they are involved according to that girl, but still..."

"Well, they are a prestigious school, so of course they would be involved with important research. Don't you think it's obvious, onii-san?"

"When you put it like this, it makes sen- WHA! Nayuta?! When the heck did you got here! No, more importantly, what are you even doing here?!"

The blond girl giggled and sat down on the ground next to him. "Of course, I'm here for the same reason as you."

"Don't tell me you're planning on going inside with me?"

"Huh? Is it a problem?"

He was about to refute her saying that she would hold him back, but he held back on the last moment. She was a Kihara after all, so she was probably prepared to face whatever they would find inside. "... no. But don't blame me if you get yourself killed."

"I can take care of myself, you know." She pouted while looking away. "I am a member of Judgment, after all."

"And you could also have told us you were going to join in."

"But I told onee-san about it."

"Onee-san? You mean… ASUKAAAAA!"

"Oh, sorry Shiro. It must have slipped my mind."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!"

"Onii-san, you're too loud! They are going to find us!"

Hishiro made a mental note to get back at her later and calmed down for the time being. He had to focus on the job at hand if he wanted to survive through this. While he confirmed if his guns were properly loaded one last time, Nayuta checked her cellphone and prepared herself to dash in at any moment. "10:29… It's almost time."

And with perfect punctuality, a white truck came down the street and turned towards the facility's parking lot exactly at 10:30. "I guess they need to refill the supplies at regular periods if they are staying in for so long," commented Asuka.

"And that's our chance. Are you ready, onii-san?"

"As ready as always. Let's go!"

The two of them ran from their hideout to the back side of the truck and waited that while the driver talked with the porter over the inter-phone. After a few seconds the gate opened and they moved towards the right side of the truck, following it as the vehicle moved inside. This was a necessary step because there were sensors on the gate that could detect if someone sneaked in after a vehicle passed through, but it couldn't detect if someone got inside besides the vehicle. The only other security system that would be a problem is the moving camera, but Hishiro used his ability on it to stop it from moving, thus allowing them to get by on a blind spot.

Once inside, the darkness of the night was all they need to stay hidden, so they let the truck go ahead and crouched behind the wall of the nearest building. Hishiro took a good look around to confirm if there were any guards nearby before asking. "So, which ones of those are our targets?"

Nayuta quickly opened the GPS function of her cellphone and pointed to the buildings while explaining. "First, we shut down the factory here to create a distraction and stop the production. This should give us 20 minutes to complete our mission. Then we head to the storage and destroy everything they have inside, and lastly, we go into the office and apprehend the head researcher. With that done, our job is complete."

"Ugh… our schedule seems pretty tight."

"By the way, this is not going to work as planned, so be prepared to improvise on the way. As long as all of these things are done, it doesn't matter what happens in the middle of it."

The more she talked, the more hopeless the boy felt. In a way, she was outright saying that it didn't matter if one of them was killed when things go wrong if the objective is achieved. "You seem really calm about this whole thing, knowing that we are in a huge disadvantage." The girl said nothing and continued to watch the surroundings for an opportunity to move on.

"Isn't it better if you two acted separately then?" Suggested Asuka. "Nayu-chan moves faster, so she could take care of the factory while Shiro goes for the storage in the opposite direction. You two can meet up at the office later."

"But then it would be all over if we end up having to fight one of those machines in the way."

"Onii-san is right, but splitting up would be more effective… let's just do that. After all, we have no guarantee that we could take them out by fighting together either."

The two of them nodded and went in different directions. Hishiro kept quiet until she was far enough. "Heh, who would have thought she would actually agree with it. That was a good one, Asuka."

"It's her own fault for underestimating me." She said proudly. "She would probably reject the idea before, thinking we would run away. And now, she can't use you as a meat shield, in case the worst happens."

"I still hope it doesn't comes to that. I'm sick of the level 5s already, even if it's a cheap copy of them." Hishiro shivered just from remembering his fight against Mugino and Accelerator. "Make sure to keep an eye on her, Asuka."

"Sure. With the factory out and the storage wrecked, you can leave asap and let Seria take care of the rest even if Nayu-chan fails to reach the office."

 **Part 4**

After sneaking his way through the facility for about ten minutes, Hishiro arrived at the storage. "Asuka, I'm at the destination. How's Nayuta doing?"

"She's already done with the factory. According to her estimate earlier, you have 14 minutes left."

"This is going way better than expected. It's almost scary." Still, there was no time to waste. He confirmed that the entrance was locked, meaning the there was no one inside right now. Then he picked the small explosives he brought and planted them on the steel gate. After hiding at a safe distance, he detonated them, causing an impressive loud explosion when compared to their size, and opening a large rift on the gate.

There were no apparent light switches inside the dark room, so he had to use a lantern to see anything there. And when he did… "Holy… shit..."

Nayuta's prediction about the machines mass production was already bad enough, but the reality was way harsher than that. Form the outside, this storage didn't looked more than a simple warehouse, but the interior was massive, going several meters underground… and all of it was stacked with powered suits of various shapes, enough to make an army of them. "Asuka… this is a problem. I can't destroy all of this with the equipment I currently have. There are hundreds - if not thousands of them here."

"What? That many?"

"Yeah, this place goes deep underground. I can't even see the bottom with this flashlight. Even if I could destroy the building, I doubt the whole structure would be damaged. It would be possible to dig some functional stuff out of the debris."

"Are you sure they're really working though? Because if they are, you could use their firepower to destroy the others."

"Wait - do you want me to pilot one of these? How am I supposed to do that? I never rode anything like this before in my life!"

"We don't have any other option now. For starters, get into one of them and show me the panel. I'll try to help you from here."

Groaning in annoyance, the boy took a quick look at the Powered Suits nearby. One in particular caught his attention. It looked like a scorpion and had a impressive looking barrel at the end of the tail. "Well, if I gotta do this, then I might as well enjoy it."

He made his way the the machine while grinning and tried to climb it, but the moment his hand touched it, he heard several mechanical noises coming from within. _Don't tell me… it's turning on?_

Out of shock, he took a few steps back and accidentally stumbled in another powered suit, one that had an humanoid shape and was equipped with a large cannon on the right arm and some kind of steel pole on the left. It also turned on on the spot.

Hishiro tried to not make any other careless moves and stood still, hoping for them to just shut down… but it didn't happen. A red dot in each of them pointed at him, indicating that their cameras had recognized his existence there. Just a second later, they both attacked with their limbs, almost hitting him who had jumped away in the last moment.

"Asuka, they are set to activate upon touch! Now I have two of them trying to kill me here!"

"Seriously?! Those aren't supposed to be automated!"

"Either Nayuta was wrong about that or she lied on purpose. Do you have any other brilliant ideas?"

"Hold on, I'm thinking about that!"

Meanwhile, the automated weapons made their move. From the scorpion's tail, a large missile came flying at him. He was able to dodge it easily, but the heat and the shockwave caused by the blast sent him flying towards the other one and he fell just beside it. Then, the humanoid machine made a weird noise and Hishiro felt a strong electric shock run through his whole body. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Stopping the current with his ability, he managed to roll away and stand up. The Scorpion ran to his side and tried to rip his head out using the saws attached to its arms, which he managed to avoid by ducking beneath them and sidestepping.

 _Dammit… if a replica hurts that much, I don't even want to imagine how it would be like to get attacked by the real #3. But why didn't the other attacked me with electricity as well?_ Trying to keep his mind working in this unreasonable situation, Hishiro kept a safe distance from the enemies and shot with the AMCP. The scorpion moved ahead and took all the bullets… without even a scratch. "What the-"

The boy had no time to be surprised as the machine attacked again, firing another missile. Having learned his lesson, Hishiro ran past it and kept himself away from the blast. But even though he avoided the damage, the shockwave knocked several other powered suits, and he could hear mechanical noises coming from all of them. "You gotta be fucking kidding me..."

The number of enemies increased by the dozens all of a sudden. Electrical sparks, bullets, iron sand swords controlled by steel poles… All of these attacks came rushing at him at once and all he could do now was run and pray to not get hit.

The good side is that the place was cramped with these things, so he had more than enough cover. But the bad side is that whenever one took the damage for him, it would activate and attack him right after. "No good, no good, no good, no good, no good at all! Asuka, hurry up!"

Without much option, he turned right on the corner and climbed down the stairs to the floor below. This was an attempt to buy time, but it worked against him in the end as they simply jumped down faster than him and resumed the assault, thanks to the spiral-like structure of the floors of the building. He stopped the deadly iron sand from cutting hum in half with his ability, sidestepped bullets, kept away from the sparks and tried to retaliate, but all his bullets were neutralized by the scorpion.

The boy ran out of space again pretty quickly and headed to the next stairs, but a powerful gust of wind followed by a deafening noise passed by him just before the first step, making him roll down the stairs painfully. He barely could see anything while falling, but he managed to notice the orange line of light just beside where he was standing a moment ago. _Was that… a railgun?!_

Swallowing dry, he forced himself to his feet again and dashed away as fast as he could, expecting another shot of that. And just as he thought, it came, piercing through several of the other powered suits. "It's impossible take cover from that!" Once again, he prepared to fire, but taking a different action. His first shot was aimed at a machine that was still on the floor above, and as predicted, the scorpion intercepted it. Then he unloaded his remaining bullets at the railgun shooter and finally managed to land some hits, as the other powered suit couldn't make it in time to defend. By hitting its legs and left arm, the weapon was neutralized… but that was only one of them. Suddenly, 3 more railgun shots were fired from above, followed by another missile from the scorpion that - somehow - looked mad for being tricked. "Ah, c'mon!"

Hishiro avoided the shots, but with 3 of them capable of doing that, he wouldn't be able to escape for long. Not to mention that now lightning spears were being fired as well. _If this continues, I'll run out of breath in no time. I have to get them off me._

Making his mind, he jumped to the floor below without using the stairs. Using Null Inertia, the fall speed was lessened, but it still made his legs hurt a bit after landing. He repeated the action thrice, hoping to leave the enemies behind, but unfortunately, he underestimated them. The scorpion jumped all the floors at once and landed with no damage, followed by other two suits that adjusted their landing with magnet-like things attached to their legs which emitted sparks that looked like safety wires attached to the metallic floor.

He was surrounded now. All of these killing machines were ready to attack with nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, and no way to fight back. Smiling bitterly, he reloaded the cannon pistol, took out his revolver and pointed one to each side. "Fine. Let's dance our way to hell then. Come at me, you pieces of junk! I'm not going down in a place like this!"

 **Between the Lines**

Hashimoto knew what was happening. He knew what would come after this. He saw the intruder trough his personal micro security camera, which means it was all over. "Just curse it all. We were so close..."

Pressing the hidden button beneath the table, he spoke on the microphone. "Yukiko-san. I'm sorry to inform you, but it seems we ran out of time in the end."

"I see… it is indeed unfortunate." Said the woman on the other end of the line. He was actually impressed that she was still at her office at this time, as he only intended to leave a message for her. "It's okay though. We haven't lose this war yet. Can you make your escape?"

"I will try, but there's an assassin coming for my life, it seems. This might be the last time we talk."

"Hopefully that's not the case. Go now. I will contact Takayama and see what we can save to move the plan to the next step."

"Thanks." With that, he got off his chair, took off his lab coat and opened the window. Studying the height with his bionic eye he knew that he had little chances of survival after jumping. However, there was no time to hesitate, as he could hear steps coming from the other side of the door. "Who would have thought that a scientist like me would be counting on the possibility of my own calculations being wrong." He then guided his hand to his artificial eye and with a push of a little button, it turned off. Having lost half of his sight felt comfortable for the first time of his life, since the depressing numbers were no longer being displayed. All that was left now was take a step forward and let luck decide on his fate.

…

Yukiko Hayashi - the principal of the Nagatenjouki Academy - rubbed her temples after a brief conversation with Takayama and other members of the staff, while moving pieces on the chessboard he had placed on her table. With her index finger, she knocked down the white horse and tower, and then placed the black bishop behind the pawns' defense line, dangerously close to the king. "I guess you can't win without making the necessary sacrifices. And even then, victory is not granted, but still… beneath this uncertainty is where lies the thrill of this game." With one last movement, she took the white queen and placed it on the middle of the board, where it could take either the bishop, the knight and the black queen in a single move.

* * *

 **Hello once again, my dear readers. First of all, I apologize for the wait. It's shameful to admit, but I kinda ran out of ideas for a moment (and by that I mean 2 weeks), but luckily for us all, it didn't last long. And it won't happen again, as the next chapter is the climax of the arc.**

 **So, Kihara Nayuta is the one making a debut now. For those who don't know, she appears in a side story called Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare, but you won't need to read it to understand her role in the story as I'll give enough explanations soon enough. Since she has almost presence in the books, there's a high chance of he being a mainstay in the fic.**

 **Now, my next apology has to be once again to my main character. Having to deal with a Kihara, and then being sent to fight against countless high end powered suits right after recovering from the battle against Accelerator was cruel. At least he looked like a badass in the end. I honestly hope I can write a satisfying outcome to that battle. Hahaha…**

 **The crack shipping guy** **: Accelerator won't be playing a major role, at least not for now. From this point on he's too busy being shot in the face and recovering in the hospital (or not, given by what happens in the manga), which is why I placed him in the spotlight now that I had the chance. Hishiro's ability… is a topic for another arc, so I can't answer it right now… actually, the subject is going to be touched upon a bit next arc, so hold on for just a bit. As for Touma vs Hishiro... well, if it's just a fist fight, then Hishiro wins. Remember Touma's first fight against Tsuchimikado? While Hishiro is not a martial artist, he has a lot of combat experience for being involved in the dark side for so long, so the fight would go in a similar way. However, an actual battle between the two would be unpredictable, because Touma has quite a few jokers up his sleeve, such as breaking the will of his opponent or the thing inside the IB, so it would depend on the circumstances.**

 **Guest: Well, it wasn't Kuroko. Sorry for misleading you into thinking that on purpose. I couldn't resist the urge to do so when I noticed how similar their descriptions would be if I gave just so many details.**

 **Sargent Crash: Now I'm curious to what exactly you're referring to. Feel free to PM me if you don't think it's a good idea to ask on the reviews section, but keep in mind I won't be able to answer everything to avoid spoiling the surprises.**

 **Finally, a warning: Next chapter will be action packed. With some important revelations. And a character that has been away for a while will be back. Look forward to it. Thanks for your support and see you all next time!**


	24. Five Over Alpha

**IV**

 **Chapter 24: The One to Surpass a Level Five**

 **Five_Over_Alpha**

 **Part 1**

Hishiro had lost his flashlight at some point while running away from the killing machines, but that didn't matter now. The place that was supposed to be completely dark was now illuminated by the countless powered suits' lanterns that were as strong as highlights, all pointed towards the boy standing on the center of the floor.

A few seconds have passed but none of them attacked. It seemed like their AI had identified that the boy was completely cornered and were in no rush to risk losing this advantage, but Hishiro was afraid that this status quo would be broken if he were to pull the trigger first. _But doing nothing won't take me anywhere. It's just a matter of time until… damn, this is not satisfying. There must be something I can do to turn things around!_

His eyes travelled from one side of the room to the other, memorizing the enemies' positions and looking for anything that could give him an advantage. One particular object picked his attention and he wasted no time. With a single shot of the AMCP, he destroyed the valve of a gas container on the edge of the room right next to one of the powered suits. Without delay, the white gas leaked out at high pressure over the machine…. though that didn't exactly do anything but make all the automated weapons take action at once.

 _I was hoping it was nitrogen or anything that could damage it… this is definitely not my day._ Cursing his bad luck on his mind, he took off towards the side with fewer enemies while under heavy fire. Using his ability, the boy managed to get past the scorpion saws, but was kicked by the other suit on its left and was sent flying a few meters away. He struggled to get up, just to get a railgun shot blast on the floor half a step away from where he was, throwing him crashing against the wall.

"Cough! Fuck, my body had just healed- whoa!" There was no time to complain. An iron sand sword tried to cut him in half with a vertical slash, which he managed to avoid by a hair. "You freaking scrap! Don't you dare do this again!" And from almost point blank, the cannon pistol dug two bullets into the armor of the powered suit, right in the joint of the arm holding the sword, sending sparks raining all over the place. But this was no reason to celebrate, as Hishiro's face was met with a steel fist and the boy was once again flying to the middle of the room.

The impact was more brutal the he initially thought and his balance was failing him, making it difficult to stand on his feet again. But he had to, or else… "*sniff*... this smell… oh shit, don't tell me-!"

Fire. He had no idea what kind of gas he had released, but the moment it was showered by the sparks from the machine, it ignited and started to spread out fast. Ignoring the pain, the boy tried running towards the stairs leading upwards. The whole place would be filled with smoke pretty quickly, so even though there was no longer anywhere to take cover in the higher floors, it would be a bad idea to keep going down. However, before he could get there, the scorpion fired its missile, which exploded in the middle of the white mist. "GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The effect was catastrophic. All of the gas, as well as the other containers, exploded into a sea of flames that mercilessly bathed the whole floor in the hellish heat, as well as a couple of floors above and below. The structure was obviously damaged by the intense blast, making quite a few iron rods and columns fall down.

Hishiro opened his eyes after having lost consciousness for a few seconds. He had somehow landed on the stairs he was running towards to, which was now bent in an S-like shape, making it impossible to climb them. Luckily, his ability did a good job on defending against the lethal heat and avoiding setting of the other explosives he had with him, but even then, his body was full of nasty burns all over. "Ugh… at this rate, people will think I'm some kind of pyromaniac..."

Taking a look around, it seemed that a considerable amount of the powered suits were destroyed by the blast. However, the shockwave caused many others to awake. "Hehehe… now what? I'm really out of ideas."

"Geez Shiro… didn't you noticed? Really?"

"What's with that attitude after leaving me without doing anything? I even forgot you were there Asuka."

"EEHH?! That's cruel!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE TO TALK! *Cough, cough!* Damn this freaking smoke!" He got up while fanning his face, trying to ignore the fact that Asuka was unable to hide her laughter on the other side of the line. "Whatever, there's no time for this. If you have some trump card left, you better play it now because they are coming at me again."

"If you need me that much, then get ready Shiro. Do exactly as I say and you'll breeze through these toys like they're nothing~*!"

 _Huh… I wonder where all this confidence came from._ He had his doubts about what she was trying to do, but there was no room for complaints. Two of the suits were aiming their railguns at him and were ready to fire. Hishiro was ready to try and dodge somehow, but Asuka stopped him.

"Shiro, fire at them before they do!"

 _What?_ Despite not being sure how this would help, he did just as told and shot one bullet for each of them. Just like before the scorpion got in the way to intercept the attack, placing itself between the boy and the other two machines. _Wait, for real?_

Just a split of second after, they fired the railguns, hitting the Scorpion at full force. It wasn't destroyed, but it stopped moving and released steam from its junctions. "Good, now run through the gap between those two. Don't stop until I tell you to."

Once again, he followed the instructions while the two enemies prepared to attack one more time, one of them with an iron sand sword and the other with a high voltage discharge. The boy managed to get by them just before the attacks struck the path he went through, making them connect with each other. Once the discharge made contact with the vibrating iron sand, it created a closed circuit, making the electricity run all over the bodies of the two suits for a moment before they shutdown, sparks and smoke coming out of them.

"They had no electricity resistance? This makes no sense!"

"Do you see now, Shiro? All of them are imperfect in some way, and their AI is so flawed that it's painful to watch. We should have thought that this would be the case, since they were mass produced in such a hurry."

He stood still, blinking blankly while the damn machines surrounded him yet again. But this time, they didn't seem as menacing as before. "But if you don't move they can still hit you! Jump to the left and throw a grenade behind you!"

Following the path set by Asuka, he avoided the attacks and heard an unpleasant noise of metal being crushed just behind him. The boy didn't see exactly what had happened, but when he turned around, three suits were disabled, one was knocked to the ground with no ways of standing up and the Scorpion was once again covered in steam. "Hehe… hahahahahaha! Hey, Asuka! Keep this up! Let's scrap those failures right into the recycle bin!"

With Asuka guiding him, Hishiro fought while exploiting the imperfections of each of the powered suits. He went towards another group of least two and made their attacks harm each other, disabling them. A third was waiting for him in the end, but he attacked it first to bait the Scorpion into defending him from it. He didn't even used the AMCP, his pistol was enough to trigger the behavior, even though the regular bullet was harmless against their armor.

Running in the hall in circles, he dropped a couple of explosives in a way that seemed to be accidental, making the enemies ignore it until it was too late. The lower part of their hull seemed to be designed to withstand harsh landings, but not direct attacks, so this tactic proved to be very effective.

And following this same pattern of attack over and over, he managed to reduce the number of enemies from dozens to just three in five minutes. Intending to make them attack each other again, he dashed in between them and, just as expected, the one in the left swung the iron sand weapon without caring about its own ally on the other side. However, the other one dodged the attack and opened up enough space for the third - the Scorpion - to make its way towards Hishiro and try to slice him in half with its saws. "Whoa! What's up with that?! It wasn't acting like this a moment ago!"

In order to get rid of the Scorpion, he fired both of his guns at the powered suit that had attacked him earlier, but the multi-legged machine didn't took the damage for it this time, charging in once again to attack with the saw. The boy ducked under the attack and rolled beneath the powered suit, going towards the one he had just shot and unloading the AMCP on it.

That powered suit probably had received some damage beforehand, as some parts of it disassembled and crumbled down, unable to move or attack anymore. Soon after, the other powered suit attacked with a lightning spear form a blind spot, leaving no room for him to avoid it. "Ack- ghhhhhhhh!"

Enduring the electric shock and keeping on his feet, he turned towards the two remaining enemies with a scow while he reloaded his guns. "What's going on? The scorpion is acting weird, and this one is different from the others..."

"Could it be that they managed to perfect one of them? Or maybe someone is controlling them remotely..."

"What do I do now? I'm running out of bullets here, and nothing I done so far even scrapped that scorpion."

There was no time to come up with a new plan. Another lightning spear was fired, and even though Hishiro managed to sidestep it, the Scorpion jumped forward and kicked him, knocking the boy down. Then it placed itself above him and swung its saw downwards at full force. He stopped it midway with his ability, but the mechanical arm started moving again right after, slowly making its way towards the boy's neck even though it was inside the distorted field.

He panicked as the pressure on his body caused by the clash of his ability and the enemy attack increased and tried to get away, but one of the legs pinned him down, making an escape impossible. His only option was to strengthen the field which increased the pressure even further making his ears bleed, but it still wasn't enough to stop the weapon's advance. "Shit! Get the hell... away... from MEEEE!"

It happened just before the blade could touch his skin.

A powerful impact sent the Scorpion flying, ripping away its arm that was still under the effect of Null Inertia.

Something had drop kicked the machine from an above floor… several above floors actually, due to the force of the attack, and landed gracefully on the floor a few steps away from the grounded boy. "Are you still alive, Hishiro onii-san?"

It was the blond elementary school girl, Kihara Nayuta. Hishiro got to his feet and groaned, a little out of breath. "Thanks to you… not that I'm happy about it. Why are you here anyway?"

She pouted and answered while looking away. "Because you never showed up at the office, so I thought you had ditch me."

"I-I would never do that!"

"Yes you would. That was the plan." Asuka commented through his earphone, but he ignored her and continued.

"Things got a little busy around here, that's all."

"So you really took all of those out, onii-san? Amazing..."

"Just for the record," Asuka switched to the speakers on her own somehow and added, "those he destroyed were really dumb and weak. The remaining ones are on a whole other level."

Nayuta narrowed her eyes and watched as the powered suits regrouped and studied the newcomer on the battlefield. "Hmmm… I don't recognize the scorpion, but if the data I saw on the factory is right, the other one is probably the 5o#3-McR(P004)."

"Can you translate that?"

"It's an upgraded version of the 4th prototype, the one that got the best result in all tests. They were about to develop a whole lot of them, but the cost for it is too high, so the production was delayed for tomorrow morning. I guess we're lucky they got only one of them here."

Their conversation was cut short by a missile launched by the Scorpion. Nayuta got out of the way at superhuman speed to the left while Hishiro slowed the warhead end escaped to the right. From that position, they went for an uncoordinated pincer attack on the two machines.

Nayuta got to them first and sent a full blown kick on the Scorpion, which skidded backwards a bit but had no apparent damage. She was surprised by its endurance, but still managed to avoid the attack from the remaining arm of the machine. "You're not going down so easy, huh? In that case..." She circled the enemy faster than it could perceive her and attacked the joints repeatedly. The arm came off on the second strike, but the rest simply released steam and kept intact. "Curious… now I'm dying to know how you work. Let's play for a while, okay?"

On the other side of the room, Hishiro jumped left and right to avoid the lightning spears while approaching the prototype. When he got close enough, an iron sand whip formed on one of its arms, but before it could attack with it, the boy fired the AMCP at point blank and disrupted the action. The machine tried to gain some distance by jumping away and prepared to fire the railgun. "Oh no, you won't! HAH!" Bracing himself for the pressure, he created the largest field he could manage and slowed the machine's movement, catching up with it in no time. The railgun fired, but because of the distorted field, the magnetism gathered for the shot wasn't enough to make it dangerous.

Another whip started forming, but Hishiro knew the pattern the iron sand would take from the last time, so he easily managed to stop it on its tracks before planting a magnet explosive on the arm and rolling away. The blast almost knocked the prototype down, and the arm was too damaged to attack again. However, the boy failed to see another electric discharge coming at him in the middle of it all and got struck by it mercilessly. "D-d-d-d-dammit!"

Stuck in place due to the current, he was lucky that Nayuta was sent flying towards him, knocking him out of the attack range. They both rolled on the ground, but Nayuta managed to get on her feet faster and dashed towards the prototype as it was closer. The machine fired lightning spears at her and she didn't even bother to dodge. The girl simply crossed her arms in front of her and took the hit with no damage. "As someone that faced the original, this is a joke. And of course, I have countermeasures against this now, so it won't work!"

 _Faced the original? Did she really…?_ Hishiro pushed this line of thought away for the time being and went after them. Except it was too late, as Nayuta had closed the distance and started to dismantle the machine with her bare hands until it was no longer functional.

"... that girl is brutal. Remember me to never try and fight her, Asuka."

"Well, what were you expecting? She IS a Kihara, after all."

Only one enemy left. The two of them stood side by side and took their stances. Sure it was a tough one, but now that they had the numerical advantage, they were confident that they could pull it off. Except… that it turned off on its own. "Uh… did you damage it enough for something like this to happen?"

"I tried, but something beneath the hull disperses any energy applied to it. This definitely isn't my doing."

Now that all of them were either destroyed or powered off, the place was once again bathed in an eerie darkness that was only fought off by the remaining small flames here and there. And from beyond the darkness, footsteps echoed informing them that someone was climbing up the stairs from a lower floor. Hishiro clicked his tongue and put himself in guard. "Impossible… the building was locked from the outside, so how-"

"And do you think we wouldn't have an extra route to our buried treasure, boy?"

 **Part 2**

The person finally arrived at their floor and stepped out of the darkness, revealing her round glasses, twin black ponytails and white lab coat. Nayuta gasped when she saw her and shouted in surprise. "Takayama Kyrie!? What are you doing here?"

The woman stopped next to the disabled Scorpion, placed her hands on her hips and looked at the girl with a superior tone. "Oh, you know me?"

"Of course I do! You are the one that issued the order to capture Kyiama-sensei!"

"Capture? My, my, those are some strong words. We were going to make her an offer, that's all."

Hishiro felt out of the loop, and he knew that lack of information could put himself in danger, so he interrupted their conversation. "Hey, Nayuta, what's going on? Is she the head of the whole project? The one you went after in the office?"

"No, but she's basically second or third in command here." She answered without taking her eyes of the woman. "I had fought off many agents she had sent before you left the hospital."

"This Kiyama-sensei you mentioned just now… are you referring to Kiyama Harumi?" Asked Asuka. But instead of Nayuta, Takayama answered her question.

"But of course. That woman is a genius when it comes to Espers brains. Our creations so far, as I assume you're already familiar with given the mess you two made, are mere tools to give anyone access to the highest level of Esper abilities developed at Academy City. But if a person would chose to use them as is right now, they would pale in comparison to a real Esper, and that is supported not only by previous experiments, but also by the fact that you managed to defeat so many of them in such a short amount of time. Do you know why?"

"Because their AI suck?" The boy jabbed, making the researcher chuckle a little.

"Make no mistake. They can't act on their own. These tools are all meant to be used by someone." And then, she approached the remainings of one of the powered suits and took a purple glass container out of it with a very thin line inside, like a single hair. "This allowed remote control. It is in fact a collaboration with another project, but that does not matter right now. The fact is that the user had all the instructions to use those, but it made countless mistakes along the way, like falling for traps and unintentionally hitting its own allies. This is what would happen in the streets of Academy City if our product was to be released in its current state."

 _Did she intend to release those to the general public?_ Hishiro imagined that for a moment and only chaos surged on his head. What would the members of Skill Out do if they got their hands on one of those? And the other factions of the dark side?

But Takayama kept talking without noticing his panic. "But things changed on the last moments of your fight, right? That is because the user got a better grip of the practical use of these abilities and made clever decisions taking that in consideration. Still, this was nothing compared to the several years of experience the two of you have with your own abilities. So this result is unavoidable 100% of the time in any simulation we ran so far. However, there was one person in the past that was capable of making proficient use of several different abilities the moment she got them. All she had to do is link her own brain with the brains of other Espers that had the experience she lacked - just like the Sisters do."

"Yeah, Kiyama-sensei was able to do that when she linked with the Level Upper, but the side effects-"

"That's why we need her instead of using the same method, little girl. There's this issue that needs to be fixed, and she is one of the few in this city that can do it."

"Sorry, but that's not happening." The boy had enough of their talk and stepped forward. "If you complete this toy and everyone in the city ends up owning one, I'll end up having to work 24/7 and I'm not looking forward to it."

"So, you think only the high level Espers are qualified to use those abilities? You think law would fall if level 0s were to wield them?" Takayama asked him in a daring tone, almost mocking him. "What makes the powerful Espers way of thinking so special that they are the only ones responsible enough to be trusted with those powers, hmm? Can you answer that?"

Hishiro looked at her blankly, unable to come up with a quick response, much to her amusement. "You can't, right? Because there is none. Things are the way they are now just to keep this power hierarchy in the city and nothing more. The research we are doing now could be done countless years before, but the projects were always shutdown in their initial stages without explanations. Hayashi-san and the people at Nagatenjouki Academy are the only ones that showed us support, and even they had to do it in secret. But this… this unfair rule… ends today. Right here!"

Mechanical noises could be heard from behind the woman, probably from a bellow floor. The boy forgot all about rebutting her argument as the ambient was suddenly illuminated by an eerie flashing red light, as if a warning siren had gone off somewhere nearby. "It is a shame that most of the 5o#3-McR - no, the Modelcase Railgun series were defeated, but those were just what the lower ranks were working on. Just like this Scorpion Unit, my personal creation took a different direction and became something else… something that no one could ever dream about. I regret that I had to make use of that repulsing experiment to achieve this, but now is the time to make up for that! Behold - the ultimate machine that surpasses the power of the strongest level 5!"

BAAAANG!

And so, that thing jumped from bellow and landed right behind Takayama, shaking the already damaged structure. It was a huge white four legged powered suit, mad of metal plates that weren't connected to each other, leaving thin gaps all over its body from where blue lights could be seen. Its "feet" were exceptionally large and had countless wheels attached to springs beneath them. From the inside of the empty pilot cabin, a complex layout of circuits was left visible, making one question if it was still incomplete or if it was left like this on purpose. And on the largest plate on the front, it was written "5o#1-McA(P013): Five Over Alpha".

"A 13th prototype? There was nothing recorded about this in the factory's database!" Nayuta shouted in disbelief as she tried to understand the serial code. "#1... McA... you can't be serious! When you say the strongest level 5-"

"YES! This is the one and only Modelcase Accelerator!"

Hishiro hadn't looked at the same files as Nayuta to understand all of it, but even him managed to grasp what was going on by now. "H-hey, this can't be, right? Replicate a railgun is one thing, but to emulate that monster's abilities... is it even possible?"

"They were studying the Sisters to get enough info on the strongest electromaster, so what would stop them from doing the same with that boy? Sorry onii-san... I should have foreseen that this was possible..."

"No... no, no, no, no! Asuka, it is impossible, right? Right?!" There was no answer from the other side of the line. She probably had nothing to say that would calm him down, so she opted to stay quiet. Clicking his tongue, Hishiro aimed both guns forward and pulled the trigger without thinking twice.

Seeing that, the blonde girl panicked. "Onii-san! No!"

*BANG! BANG!*

 _*Kachiiiiiiiiiiiin*_

The moment the bullets hit the armor – or maybe even before that – an indescribable noise roared in the room, followed by the phenomenon that the boy was hoping it would not happen. Yes, the bullets were redirected accurately towards his position. If it wasn't for Nayuta jumping at him to push him out of the way, he would probably die instantly from his own attack.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES! Do you believe it now, foolish boy? You are witnessing the dawn of a new age for science! That was the face I wanted to see! When your hopes and disbeliefs turn into despair... yes, that's exactly how those apes that call themselves researchers are going to react!"

As a researcher herself, the young Kihara glared at Takayama with her eyes full of hate before turning her attention at Hishiro bellow her. "That was too reckless, onii-san."

"Hehehe... I guess it was..." The boy said lifelessly, but it lasted for just a short moment before his usual expression came back at him. "But on the bright side, it served as proof... that thing is really an imitation of him."

The two of them stood up, the male grinning smugly despite the fact he had his hands shaking of fear. "Despair? Don't make me laugh. I'm actually looking forward to shatter to pieces that fancy blender you're so proud of right before your eyes."

The lab coat woman's eyes twitched slightly over the boy's words, but she kept her composure and placed her hands on her pockets, returning his glare as if it was a stare contest. "You have no idea of the situation you are in right now, do you? Or perhaps have you gone insane in face of death?"

"Neither. I admit you got me twice, but I'm not falling for your tricks anymore. You revealed the flaw of these machines yourself. No matter how powerful it is, it can't match what a real Esper can do, right?"

"So that's where your last light of hope is coming from, hmm?" Takayama shot a look of pity at the boy while making a motion as if ordering for her creation to attack. "But we'll see about that. Show me how you fair facing the ultimate power of science!"

And then, the Five Over's lights turned to red and looked ready to attack. Hishiro braced himself to take it on head on, but had no idea on how to damage it. Everything he done in his fight against Accelerator proved to be useless after all. "So, Nayuta... any idea on how that thing works? I can't think of anything."

"I have a theory." She answered with little confidence in her voice. "that scorpion had some hind of rotor inside it to disperse the strength of any attack it took. Using the same principle, they could redirect the vectors in a similar way as the Accelerator does... probably."

"That doesn't sound plausible..."

"It's either that or she managed to replicate the absolute defense of the windowless building. Which one you prefer, onii-san?"

"So rotors it is." He answered in a bitter tone. "But how do we deal with it?"

"We just attack on the obvious opening!" And like that, the girl took off faster than a bullet, running in a zigzag pattern and aimed a jump kick at the gap between the plates on the left front leg. However, just before the strike could connect, the plates moved in their axis and formed a V, closing the gap. With great effort, the girl readjusted her position in midair to reduce the effort of the impact, but even then...

 _*Kachiiiiiiiiiiiin*_

"Kyaaaah!" Her body was sent flying backwards at such speed that it seemed like she had just vanished. She should've crashed against the wall, but she managed to reduce the impact greatly with her arms and legs somehow.

 _That didn't work... but I got what she was trying to do. And if it made an effort to protect that part, it means it's vulnerable!_ Finally knowing what to do, Hishiro advanced this time after reloading his gun.

The machine didn't stand still this time and ran over the nearby debris, catapulting it towards the boy by just barely touching it.

"Ah, c'mon!" He was forced to step back to avoid the projectiles with the help of his ability. In the meantime, Nayuta had approached it from behind and tried another attack on the gaps on a different spot, but the results were the same as her last attempt.

"That thing is unapproachable... in that case!" Without trying to get close, he fired the AMCP three times, but missed the gaps by a mile and had to jump on the floor to not get hit by his own bullets.

"You really thought this was a good idea, Shiro? I mean, your aim is a little..."

"Shut up Asuka! Just shut the fuck up!" He got up as fast as he could, but for his surprise, the Five Over had somehow closed the distance in a blink of an eye and kicked him with no mercy, sending the boy flying against the wall. He had to reduce the speed with Null Inertia to avoid any major damage.

Afterwards, it tried to attack the blond girl in the same way, but she managed to keep up with its speed and avoided the attack, all the while picking an iron rod from the ground and using it to attack one of the gaps, while punching another one at the same time. Her limbs moved at an impossible speed. No matter who the pilot was, it could defend two different places that needed the same plate to cover up at the same time if he couldn't even follow her attack with their own eyes – or so she thought. In reality, several plates readjusted their positioning to defend flawlessly.

She wasn't sent flying this time and only skidded backwards, but her left arm was jerking unnaturally from time to time after receiving the recoil of her own attacking, making the girl hold it with her other arm while gritting her teeth. The iron rod her used got completely deformed and was unusable as a weapon.

It was obvious they needed a better plan. Nayuta approached Hishiro who had just got to his feet again and suggested. "Oi, onii-san... can't you stop those plates from moving with your ability?"

"I don't think so." He said while shaking his head. "It had no effect when I used it against Accelerator."

"But that thing isn't the original #1."

"Well, I guess it's worth a try."

Nodding to each other, they charged forward at the same time. The powered suit showered them with debris, but they got through the attack by him slowing them down and her intercepting the projectiles in midair with her superior mobility. The moment it stopped moving, the male made the calculations in his head as fast as he could and created several fields around many plates of the machine's hull. The blonde saw the phenomena and wasted no time in getting closer in order to unleash her attack.

However, just like what had happened to the Scorpion earlier, the plates were still able to move slowly inside the distortion field. "Shit... Back off, Nayuta! It's not working!"

"Not yet!" Due to the slowed down movement, the plates had to take action way sooner to close the gap before the girl made her move. Which means I can find an opening by changing my target in the last moment! And so she did. Just before sending her punch, she aimed at another gap and attacked before it could react. "Haaaaaaaaah!"

"Nice try, but it's useless!" Shouted Takayama as she watched the battle from a safe distance.

High pressure steam leaked from the gap, strong enough to push the girl's small but heavy fist back, leaving her open for another attack. She took a hit in the middle of her chest, making her roll on the floor while spitting out blood.

"Dammit!" In desperation, Hishiro took a steady aim and fired with the more precise revolver. His aim was right this time, but the plates moved fast enough to cover the gaps before the bullets hit.

The lab coat woman giggled at his struggle. "That won't work. Alpha was made to replicate the original's automatic reflection. It doesn't matter how fast you attack because the pilot has no need to input anything, the sensors will do all the work and react on their own. Oh, and don't even think of damaging those either, it's beyond your reach."

Gritting his teeth again, he gave up on his offence for the time being and went to Nayuta's side to help her to stand, but she refused his hand and forced her words out. "Onii... chan... the cockpit..."

 _That's right... it's a little too high, but there is no armor there!_ Following the hint, the boy charged forward one more time, ignored the projectiles coming at him and threw a couple of explosives at it.

 _*Kachiiiiiiiiiiiin*_

!

Unexpectedly, his actions resulted in his explosives coming back at him alongside the other projectiles. He had no way to avoid that and ended up getting hit by the blasts and debris at full force, knocking him unconscious before even falling to the ground, with a small puddle of blood slowly forming beneath his body.

"What a couple of fools. I told you it was useless." Takayama sighed and shook her head with her eyes closed, but still wearing the same annoying smuggle smile. "Alpha is way beyond the league of the likes of you. It is true that that girl didn't had much time to adapt to controlling it yet, but even the basics of the #1 power is still untouchable by your average Espers. Once she masters it, it will easily be able to reach the unexplored territory that not even the top seven could even dream to reach. Yes, it will surpass all level fives and go beyond!"

 **Part 3**

To surpass a level 5.

That had become that little girl's dream.

That girl that was looked down upon by all the adults surrounding her for following the rules.

Kiharas are not meant to follow those rules. They were meant to test the boundaries of possibility regardless of the consequences, and the rules set for the others to follow are partially based on their results. She soon came to understand that as those Child Errors, the first friends she ever made, became victim of her grandfather experience and fell into comatose.

They all had that stupid dream of becoming a level 5 someday, even though she knew it was impossible. But at some point, she had incorporated that dream into herself, and made the experiments on her own body instead of the other guinea pigs that could be easily given to her by the city. And with great sacrifice, she gave a large step into that direction.

Now the kids were awake again thanks to Kiyama Harumi, but she didn't had the courage to see them yet. Even though she avoided harming other Child Errors, she not even once tried to help them directly like that teacher did. Because she thought it was also impossible.

So she had decided that she would turn the impossible into possible first. She would create a method to fulfill their dreams, starting with herself. Maybe it was just an excuse for her to forgive herself for giving up on them, but it didn't matter. She would do that no matter what.

Even after witnessing the difference in power between her and the #3, she would not give up on that. Not on that at the very least.

Even if she had to overcome that massive hurdle right in front of her now.

That machine that was about to steal her dream towered over her and the other boy's body as if victory was already granted. Indeed, defeating it... was pretty much impossible.

 _But that's exactly why I need to do it!_

Her limbs started moving again slowly, making a similar inorganic noise to those powered suits.

 _After all... I…_

The artificial skin was peeled off in some parts, revealing the black synthetic muscles beneath it.

"That thing... will never be what you want it to be... Kyrie!"

Those were the results of her efforts so far. The consequences of her experiments. And just like her hair and eyes colors, they were all the proof of her success into attaining the power she desired so much.

"Because... the one to surpass a level 5... will be me!"

With that shout, she willed herself to her feet again and prepared to attack again, making the lab coat woman laugh scornfully. "Deluded child... you never learn, do- oh my..."

She stopped in mid-sentence because she noticed the attack wasn't directed at the Five Over. Nayuta was aiming directly at her this time.

With steps that were mere shadows from her previous speed, but still above of what a regular human could do, the girl approached Takayama intending to hit her neck and end her life with a single strike. The older female showed no signs of fear though and simply placed her hand over her mouth, probably expecting the machine to defend her.

"Gah- AGH!" Feeling a heavy impact on her stomach, the young Kihara was lifted from the floor. She didn't even saw what the powered suit had done and concluded it was the result of some sort of vectorial manipulation. _But how... How is it controlling vectors? How can a machine replicate that to this level?_

Her line of thought was interrupted by a sudden sharp pain in her wrist, which made her scream in agony. Barely landing on her feet, she noticed that her left hand had been ripped off, leaving the many cables and steel wires that composed her cyborg arm visible.

 _I need to find out... if I don't, this will be the end of my dream... of our dream!_ Narrowing her eyes, she went for another useless attack. As the Five Over brushed her attempt off as if it was nothing, she sharpened her five senses trying to find something, anything that could give her a hint. It was just like back then... when she blindly put herself through the experiments trying to find an answer, knowing that it could end up being harmful for herself.

And beside noise of the rotors she had speculated earlier, she managed to see it. Something very faint. Something very thin. Something that shouldn't be there. _No way... this is...!_

Getting up again, she studied the machine. That thing wasn't there anymore, but she was sure she had seen it. "It happens only when the ability is triggered? If so, she had to bait yet another attack."

This time, Alpha didn't wait for her and threw several parts of the other prototypes that were laying around, burying her in a pile of heavy junk.

 _Ah... so that's really it._ The girl had to laugh at herself for not noticing it earlier. It was there the whole time. She could've seen it from the start, but the answer is so insane and improbable that she brushed it off as impossible by default.

"Whatever... if that's it, then I... Ugh..." Digging her way out, Nayuta tried to go for a decisive attack, but she fell flat on the floor without being able to keep her balance. _My right leg... is not working anymore._

"One attack... all I need is just to hit that thing once!"

"Keep dreaming." Spat Takayama. "And even if you managed to do it, what good would a single strike do?"

"Heh... let me show you!" Jumping on her only functional foot, the blond girl baited another attack from the powered suit, and this time...

 _*Kachiiiiiiiiiiiin*_

"What? How is this-"

The attack that was supposed to redirect the vectors back at Nayuta ended up sending the whole machine flying back. With a single limb, she failed to land correctly and fell back first on the floor. The damage on her body was severe and she knew she couldn't move anymore, but... "I did it... HAHAHAHAHA, I DID IT!"

"What have you done?!"

"Try and figure it out on your own, oba-san."

"Tsk... APLHA! CRUSH HER!"

Obeying her orders, the Five Over jumped high and was about land on the girl's limp body.

But once again, it was pushed back.

"What... is going on here!?" Nayuta didn't move a single muscle. The only one that had attacked was Alpha, and yet, it was the only one that had received the damage. "No, wait... don't tell me..."

"Did you notice already?"

"You... are making Alpha attack itself... aaaahh I see. You ARE Kihara Nayuta, so that's how it is..."

"In other words, you can't defeat me as long as that thing is using that ability."

"Indeed. But... that's the case ONLY if it is using the ability, right?" A malicious grin, much like the one in the face of the other scientists she despised so much, replaced the surprised expression in Takayama's face. "Alpha, turn off all automatic defenses. Just use your weight and smash her like the worthless bug she is!" And answering her commands, the lights coming from the gaps turned from red to yellow.

 _That's it then._ Her body was stuck to the ground. Her limbs no longer answered to her commands. And even though she had found a way around the redirection, there was nothing she could do if it was just a normal attack. The elementary school girl laid her head back and closed her eyes. _Banri-chan, I did it. I overcame the strongest ability of Academy City. But this is my limit... I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't fulfill my promise with you._

Dashing with its wheels, the machine intend to run over the small girl on the floor. It would all be over in a dozen of seconds-

*BANG*

Suddenly, a large hole appeared on one of the front feet of the powered suit, making a couple of wheels detach themselves from it and changing it course, sending it crashing against the wall.

Surprised, both females turned towards there the sound came from.

"And to think... you would disable the defenses on your own... just how much of an idiot are you?"

"Hishiro onii-san!"

"Damn you!"

The brown haired boy had regained consciousness at some point and was now on his knees, bleeding a waterfall from many injuries all around his body but still aiming the AMCP at the prototype. "That's what you get for underestimating me, dumb bitch!"

Without giving the researcher time to react, Hishiro unloaded his gun, hitting several areas of the machine that left holes in the hull from where sparks showered. The damage seemed serious, but it wasn't enough to take it down as the powered suit charged towards the boy while he reloaded his gun with his remaining bullets.

However, unlike before, its moves were slower than the other prototypes and he managed to avoid the attack at ease. "I don't know what happened to your toy here, but the way it is now, it stands no chance against me!"

Stop. It wasn't broken yet, but the Five Over stopped its movements for a moment, slowly turning to face the insolent boy and turning the lights back to red, making Takayama panic. "Wait, Alpha! Don't do it!"

"Onii-san! Shoot it now!"

Maybe because he had followed Asuka instructions earlier, Hishiro obeyed before thinking about the command while the enemy came rushing at match speed, only to be knocked back with twice the force it intended to attack the boy. "Whoa, that's satisfying. Is that your doing, Nayuta?"

"I'll explain later, just keep attacking!"

With every shot, Alpha's armor bent inwards causing heavy damage to it and by the time he shot the last bullet, the machine was no longer recognizable. It still tried to move, but all it was able to do was crawl with its only working leg. The boy was feeling dizzy due to blood loss, but he still grinned towards the twin ponytail woman and announced while aiming the revolver at her. "Your absolute weapon got absolutely defeated. This is the end of line. Any last words?"

Sighing, she still seemed to be calm despite the clear dissatisfaction in her face. "I guess that's what I deserve for being too kind. Aritami's doll is still _too young_ to be able to fully understand and control something of this level... I'll make him pay for this later. If I had piloted it myself, this wouldn't had happened."

"Putting the blame on someone else? What a sore loser."

"Loser? Sorry to disappoint you, but this game is far from over. I have no intention to let it end here."

In that moment, the flashing light went off, bathing the place in darkness again. Hishiro pulled the trigger three times but stopped when he heard a mechanical noise nearby moving upwards. "Dammit... where are you, coward?"

"Hishiro onii-san... can you give me a hand here?"

Nayuta's voice was followed by a beam of light that came from one of the girls eyes, who was still laying face up on the floor. He approached her and noticed the despicable state she was on. "Nayuta... you're..."

"It's alright, this is nothing. I can get myself _fixed_ as much as I want. But I can't get up on my own now so... please."

"..."

The boy made a complicated expression for a moment, but he ended up picking her up despite that. "What do we do now? I don't know how, but that woman escaped..."

"She used the Scorpion to climb up the walls." Informed Asuka. "If you still want to go after her, I can follow her using the cameras."

Nayuta shook her head. "Hmm... no. It's a shame, but we can't go after her in our condition."

"Not to mention the stairs upwards are trashed. We can only hope to use that other entrance to leave."

 **Part 4**

Hishiro headed to the lowest floor while carrying Nayuta, who illuminated the way with the flashlight on her eye. There were still some powered suits on the way but they decided to leave those alone for now. They couldn't risk another battle after all that happened. There, they found a tunnel that probably was used by Takayama to get inside the facility without them knowing.

While he walked, the boy ended up looking at the damaged parts of the girl for a brief moment. "Asuka onee-san investigated me, so you to already knew, right?"

"Yeah... sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I'm not used to seeing cyborgs, even in my line of work."

"Don't worry about that."

"Still... I'm curious about how you trampled with that powered suit."

The girl hesitate for a moment before answering. "It's actually better if you don't know, onii-san."

"Don't give me that. After all the madness we went through, I should at least have the right to know that."

"*sigh* All right. Do you know what my ability is?"

"Huh... if I remember correctly, it had something to do with manipulating AIM diffusion fields-" The boy had a realization and felt as if someone had dropped a bucket of cold water on his body. "No way..."

"I didn't want to believe it either but it's true. That machine somehow emitted a thin layer of AIM Diffusion fields."

"But... how is this even possible?"

"I don't know... the project will have to be stopped after all the damage we caused, so I hope I can get my hands on all their research material to figure that out. In any case, that woman... Takayama Kyrie is not a normal researcher. I'll have to keep an eye on her from now on."

...

Following that path, they soon found an elevator leading to one of the many buildings of their base. By now, everyone had already been evacuated, but the place was full of people in military black clothes that the blond girl recognized on the spot. "The Hound Dogs? What are they doing here?"

"Oh, don't worry about that Nayu-chan." Asuka answered from Hishiro's communication device. "While you two were having your moment alone in that dark place, I already took care of all the bureaucratic work. These people will handle the leftovers – including that woman and the head researcher you let escape."

The boy's face distorted in a bitter expression under her words, but the girl was the first one to talk. "Ah- you found out about that, onee-san?"

"You can't hide anything from me, you know? A-ny-thing~*! Incluuuuding the true reason behind the favor you asked us. It had nothing to do with the danger of that research, nor the fact that their results risked to invalidate all your efforts. No, no, you just wanted to keep that teacher out of the dark side, riiiiiiiiight~~*?"

That sentence destroyed the friendly atmosphere built by their cooperation up to that point, which was aggravated by the cold tone of the girl's retort. "Ridiculous. Why would someone of my-"

"No use playing dumb. And you don't need to be so wary just because we found out. I don't intend to tell that to the troublesome members of your family, because I'm sure they wouldn't leave you alone if we did... that is, as long as you are willing to do a tiny favor for us in return."

"... so you two are trying to turn the table on me? That's cruel. You two are sooo cruel! You're not going to let her do this to me, will you, onii-san?"

"I already told you, that cute act won't work on me. And she's not asking anything incredibly unreasonable like you did."

"Yup, Nayu-chan. We just need you to look up on who else is peeping our private communication lines besides you, that's all. Since you managed to do it, you can find if the same security breach is being used by someone else, right?"

"Geez, you two are not fun." Nayuta pouted and looked away with her cheeks slightly dyed in pink for some reason. "Fine, I can do that."

"Good! Since you agreed so easily, I'm even willing to give you a ride home in our dedicated vehicle! Am I not a nice person?"

 _What, were you intending to leave her here like this otherwise? That's low even for you, Asuka._ Those thoughts passed through Hishiro's head, but he decided to not say it since Asuka got what they wanted. "Okay, since all is settled, I guess it's hospital time again... oh well, I just hope it's a different one from the last time."

...

Once inside the car – which happened to be a mini black limo – Hishiro let out a heavy sigh. Nayuta was on a sit ahead that faced his while looking through the window. "Well then..."

His voice picked the girl's attention and made her look at him, and when she did... "Onii-san... why are you pointing this gun at me?"

"You didn't think I would let you get away with everything you did for free, did you? I need some answers from you, and you better answer honestly."

"Huh? But I thought Asuka-"

"Her requests doesn't necessarily concerns me. She was the good cop, and right now, I'm the bad cop. And don't you DARE to ever tell her what I'm going to ask you now, got it?" Nayuta didn't answer with words. She kept staring at his face, as if to test how far he was willing to go with this, and came to the conclusion it was not a good idea to get on his bad side at that moment.

"I'll take your silence as a yes. Then I'll go ahead and ask. Kihara Gensei. You've met him personally, didn't you?"

"Yes. He is my grandfather."

"Do you know anything about his whereabouts?"

She answered after a small pause after closing her eyes and shaking her head. "No. And I don't think any other Kihara knows what happened to him either."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. The last time I saw him was shortly after that failed experiment with the Child Errors."

"I see... So what about his researches? Do you have access to what he had worked on during all those years?"

"Huh... I think so. Some of it at the very least."

Then, he took a small SD card from inside his phone and handed over to her. "There is a high chance that he was involved in the experiment described there. If you find anything regarding that, contact me immediately."

Soon, they arrived at the hospital. Hishiro opened the door and left those last words with her. "Remember, don't tell Asuka about it. I'll know if you do."

After he left and the driver headed for another hospital located in district 7 for Nayuta, the girl lost herself in thought about what had just happened while toying with the SD card. "Just what is he planning? Good thing I didn't killed him with his own ability when he pointed that weapon to me. Things are going to get... interesting."

...

August 22, 5:55 PM

After being dispatched from the hospital (again), Asuka sent Hishiro a report regarding the results of their last operation. An investigation was made, the Five Over project was redeemed illegal and an arrest warrant was issued for all personnel involved, though the higher ranks, including the head researcher that Nayuta failed to catch, are yet to be found. All the remaining equipment and the research results were confiscated by Academy City's security department, and after the cancellation of the Level Six Shift project, it was decided that the Five Overs were going to be once again put in test phase after receiving heavy adjustments for practical military use.

"Wait, what?! That's fucking bullshit! We went through all the trouble to put a stop to this madness so they could just green lit it again under a new label and call it a day?!"

"Well, it can't be helped." Asuka wanted to calm him down, but she couldn't think of any means to do so. In truth, she herself was quite mad about this whole thing. "Seria-chan wasn't happy about it either, but now that the Project is under the wings of Academy City's official channels, there is nothing we can do about it. If you ask me, I think this was the whole point of this. They just wanted the patent to use this in any way they want. But the good side is that we can be sure this won't be released to anyone now."

"Fuck that, I give it two or three months until we see some of those being used in the dark side!"

"I can't argue with that... but you know what's weird? I think this is the first time the higher ups ever concerned themselves with weapon development of this caliber for practical use. I wonder if they are feeling threatened by something or preparing themselves for war..."

*FREEZE*

Upon the mention of that word, the boy stopped on his tracks as he remembered something important the nun in white had told him before

 _"A conflict between Academy City, which is the core of the science side of the world, and the church, which is the core of the magic side that transcend even countries, would probably result in a large scale war."_

 _That's what she said as one of the possible goals that crazy magician had back then. Is Academy City taking precautions against this worst case scenario? Or are they actually..._

"Heeey, Shiro! Are you still there?"

"I'm listening. It's just... that tracker you placed in Index's clothes is still working?"

"Huh? Yeah, it is, but why bring that up all of a sudden?"

"It might be worth paying that airhead a visit soon."

 **Between the Lines**

"So this is checkmate... well played, Mr. chairman. You did manage to take everything from us in the end."

"I am truly sorry, Yukiko-san. If we were better prepared..."

Inside the principal office of Nagatenjouki Academy, the elegant Yukiko Hayashi and the cyborg runaway Hashimoto were discussing what to do from that point on. The woman knocked the white king on her beloved chess table before sighing and answering. "Never mind that... What about Takayama-sensei?"

"Not even a hint. My men are still searching for her as we speak."

"I guess we should treat her as an enemy from now on as well, since she didn't even tried to contact us... and we can't support Aritomi-kun anymore, since he isn't exactly aligned with our cause. How troublesome."

"How should we proceed then?"

Rubbing her temples, Hayashi replied with a bitter smile. "Our only option now is to contact our friends outside the city... you know what this means, right?"

...

Meanwhile, inside a complex of buildings in District 17 that used to be Misawa Cram School, a woman in a dark grey robe with golden decorations and a black hood hiding her face walked on the empty hallway – one that couldn't be perceived by normal people. Two planes used to exist in that place, and she recreated that second plane, the other side of the coin, in order to achieve her goal.

"Well, well, who would ever think that it would still be here? People from the Anglican church can be a bit too careless for their own good."

On her foot laid the "person" she intended to meet. However, right now, that person was nothing more than a pile of molten gold, an entity that lost the conditions it needed to exist. "Not for long though. I hereby concede thee the divine bless of forgiveness. Thou shalt be allowed to be once more as long as I, your master from this day forward, walk upon this land. Now... arise!"

And after chanting those words, the woman dropped a tarot card on the gold, which slowly started to take form. "Hehe, easy as taking a candy from a baby. It almost makes me feel bad from doing this. Almost."

...

Just before 8 PM, the doorbell rang in a certain house in Kanagawa Prefecture. Kamijou Shina knew it was her husband that had just arrived and opened the door, but she didn't expect he wasn't alone that night. "My, my, Touya-san, we have a visitor tonight?"

"Sorry it's a bit sudden. It's that I just met this gentleman in the plane on my way back and he was curious about my collection, if you know what I mean."

And the gentleman in particular, wearing the same kind of dark grey robe, covered in a graceful aura that washed away any complaints Shina had about the situation, politely bowed and introduced himself. "Forgive my intrusion. I am Rázval Gregory Serafin, also a collector of exotic items like your husband. May I come inside?"

They both welcomed him inside without noticing his fixed gaze on their peculiar decoration, nor the way he carefully picked up specific items here and there with the excuse of taking a closer look on them just to place them in a slightly different position to create a specific meaning.

Later that night, after Rázval left the house, he took out his cellphone and made a call quickly while he walked towards the closest bus stop.

"Rázval, you're no longer in Academy City, so why do you insist in using such rustic means of communication?"

"My apologies, Myrin, but I actually came to like this device quite a lot. I cannot stop using it now."

"This is... unexpected. Well... how did it go?"

"It is done. Either luck is smiling at us or one of our enemies is really unlucky, because I found a sanctuary almost ready for use, and it was built completely by accident."

"This sounds too good to be true. Are you sure it isn't a trap?"

"I am. The person behind did it all by himself without knowing what he was doing. In truth, the way he randomly placed new spiritual items in there, he could end up making a catastrophic spell that not even us would be able to handle. It was a good thing I found it and guided it towards our goal."

"So when it begins?"

"In about six days. If everything goes according to the plan, we will have an angel on earth similar to the one being created in Academy City, and we will be sure that they are doing this on their own accord."

...

"I did it. I have created the monster you requested, Overseer."

Inside the hidden laboratory in the underground of the skyscraper on the border of District 7, Hideaki rested his back on the chair after seeing the results of the tests he had been running for the past twenty hours displayed on the monitor. The spiky red haired boy applauded him from nearby the door, walking towards the capsule on the other side of the room.

"Well done. Honestly, you surpassed all of my expectations. You somehow managed to stabilize her before those clowns from STUDY could complete theirs."

"That is because ours don't need to work on such a large scale like theirs. Still, she is quite destructive. I really recommend leaving her as a last resort instead of the main plan."

"Don't worry, professor. I'm well aware of the risks, and I'm willing to make the bet." And so, the boy pressed the button on the machine, opening the capsule after all the liquid inside it got drained. And in just a couple of seconds, she opened her eyes, sending shivers running through the older male's spine.

There was no turning back now.

All of them had made their preparations.

All pieces had been set on the game board.

And the first movement was just about to be made.

* * *

 **Hello my readers. It's been a while. I guess I don't even need to explain why it took so long, just take a look at the size of this. 11k words. Turned out that everything I wanted to put in this chapter ended up taking a lot more than I initially thought it would. Yeah, I'm terrible at making estimates. But I hope I managed to get your hype up. I was just dying to write all this ever since the beginning!**

 **This is the end of this arc, and as you probably can already tell, the next arc is going to be intense to say the least. Multiple factions are finally going to clash head on while our hero will seek for answers in the middle of all of it.**

 **Leaving that aside for now, let's talk about... my insanity. Yup, I have gone insane this chapter. A Powered Suit with AIM Diffusion Fields? That "molten gold" coming back to life? Seriously, what was I thinking? Someone told me that maybe I was going to far, but I said "naahh, this is nothing"... though now I wonder if I should have listened to him. I just hope you all can forgive me and follow me in this crazy ride to the end.**

 **Nayuta will be leaving for now, but she will be back. Sorry to disappoint those that were hoping that she was going to be the new member of Pointer Seria was talking about, but don't worry, she will still be playing a major role in the story later on. Let's give her an arc of rest to let her work on the tasks Hishiro and Asuka left her to do. And since I touched on the subject... Who is the new member? Look forward to the revelation.**

 **Guest: The question was about a raw fist fight, so I took only their physical fighting abilities in consideration - hence why I used Touma vs Tsuchimikado as reference. The fact is that Hishiro has more training and battle experience, so he fights better than Touma, which is mentioned to some point when they team up against Yuna. As I said, Touma could get the upper hand depending on other variables, but not on his fist fighting skills alone. And just for curiosity, was that precognition thing ever confirmed? I remember it being somewhat implied, but I don't think it went beyond that.**

 **The crack shipping guy: LMAO I wonder about that. XD**

 **Sargent Crash: Attack before being attacked… yeah, that certainly fits. It might get him in trouble oftenly, but it might as well be a life saver in the dark side of AC, just see how it worked against Scavenger (though they used the same tactic on him, so it didn't end that well). As for Asuka... he's lucky that she saves his ass when he messes up, but not THAT lucky with her pissing him off so often. Though the overall dynamic between them is quite good... kinda. Well, it is fun at least.**

 **My special thanks for my backstage helpers: the AIM typo stalker Guest and the plot supervisors (?) Banditz and my anonymous friend that wants to be kept anonymous. Leave your reviews if you have the time to spare and see you guys next time!**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Oh, there you are. I was thinking you would not come here after all.**

"Did you predicted Misaka would come again? – Says Misaka with a tone of surprise on her voice. So I believe you already know what's going to happen-"

 **Yeah, about that... hold those sparks tight for a little longer and I'm sure you won't regret. Just a liiiiiitle longer.**


	25. Last Pawn

**V**

 **Chapter 25: Prelude to the Game of Fate**

 **Last_Pawn**

 **Part 1**

August 31, 3:40 PM, somewhere in the southeast outskirts of Berlin, Germany

In the backseat of a red popular car, a girl watched the scenery through the window with deep blue eyes while she played with her blond braids. Her long and expensive looking white dress adorned with pink and golden frills gave her an aura of nobility that didn't fit at all the vehicle she was riding in. But she paid it no heed and was just worried about how long it would take to reach her destination.

It's been a few minutes since they had last seen any building, as now the only thing that surrounded the road was the trees and vegetation of the forest. Sighing in boredom, she leaned her head against the window, trying to find the birds that eventually flew from a branch to another.

After riding in that straight road for quite some time, the car took a turn to the left. There was no asphalted road there, but the ground was surprisingly easy to ride on, despite having to make several turns to avoid the trees there. Clearly, this was a path purposefully made to not be noticed by normal people. A quick glance at it would give only the impression that there was a gap in the vegetation there. But following the disguised trail would lead them to the large mansion hidden in the forest, at the margins of the Müggelsee lake. And it was exactly there where the red car was heading to.

There, two men waited its arrival in the rose garden next to the parking spot. One was wearing gray robes, walking aimlessly while reading an old book. The other one looked slightly younger, wore luxurious black clothes that contrasted with his blond hair and blues eyes and was drinking tea in a white table at the exact center of the garden.

Once it finally arrived, only the girl stepped out of the car while several maids took her baggage before it made an U turn and went back to the road. She headed straight to the tea drinking man and made a polite bow. "Good afternoon, Myrin onii-sama. I'm finally back."

Keeping a serious expression, he placed his cup on the table and answered without standing from the chair. "Welcome back, Lillian. We were waiting for you. Want some tea before we-"

"Ah, Rázval!" Cutting him off, she dashed like a kid towards the other man when she noticed he was also there.

He took his eyes off the book when he heard her voice and dropped it to catch the girl that had jumped at his arms without warning. "Rázval! I didn't know you were back! I missed you so much!"

"My, my, miss Lillian, no need for all that. It has been just a couple of months. Still, it is good to see you again. I hope you enjoyed your trip."

"I sure did! Lisbon is such a beautiful place! You have to come with me the next time!"

"Ahem-." The two of them broke the hug at Myrin's signal, but none of them seemed embarrassed nor apologetic for acting as if he wasn't there. "You two must have a lot to talk about, but I'm afraid we have a lot to discuss first. We can't afford to waste time."

They both gave him an awkward smile and joined the blond male on the table, accepting the tea he offered to them. Lillian was tired and wanted to throw herself on her bed as soon as possible, but she knew the importance of this meeting. They indeed couldn't waste a single second.

After all, the future and hopes of the ones that lived within the mansion - including themselves - rested on their shoulders. No, maybe even the future of the whole humanity was at stake and could take a severe turn for the better or the worse depending on what was decided by them.

They were the three pillars that supported the whole faction. The Crown of the Golden Sages of the Next Aeon.

She was the first one to talk. "So, how far did the plan progressed in my absence?"

"Beyond our initial expectations." Answered Myrin. "And without any casualties so far. Or rather, Rüdiger… how can I put it…. Hmmmmm..."

Lillian's face stiffened at her brother's hesitation. "What? What happened to him?!"

"Please calm down, miss Lillian. He was severely injured, but there is no imminent risk of death. I'm sure he will be fine in a couple of weeks."

"Oh thank goodness..." The girl sighed in relief and rested her back on the chair. "Though it is a shame he has to step aside so soon. He is a rather valuable asset."

"His sacrifice paid off." Continued Myrirn. "Thanks to him, we managed to nourish the Seeds of Doubt while Rázval was busy with the experiment. And since I mentioned it, Rázval..."

"What should I say? It was a complete success. So much that the spell exceeded my own expectations and affected the whole world in an equal intensity."

"Ah, so that was your doing!" The girl slammed her palms on the table and glared at the older male. "You can't do something like that without warning me first!"

"Oh, could it be that you suffered some kind of… _inconvenience_ because of the Angel Fall?" He asked, clearly teasing her.

"N-no! I sensed it and made a barrier on the last second, but it was a close call!"

"As expected from you, milady. Then there is nothing to be complained about, right?"

"Of course there is! What would you do if I had failed and some pervert ended up with my body!?"

"Lillian, you are overdoing it. Lower your tone." With a clear tone of authority in his voice, Myrin managed to completely change her attitude, earning an apology in return. "I was the one who authorized Rázval, and we could not risk trying to convey you the message regarding it."

"And if it servers as a consolation, I had so much difficulty trying to contain it that I had no time to avoid the effects on my own body."

"Eh? Really?" Her mood lightened up in a flash hearing the gray robe man's words. "Who did you become, Rázval?"

"It seems like my appearance was that of an old female police officer that has quite an interesting fan club."

"Pff… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I would've loved to see that!"

And laughing like a child while kicking the air, her dignified aura was ruined once again, making her older brother sigh in resign. Leaving her alone for now, Myrirn turned to the older male and continued. "Still, to think that even you was unable to fully control the Angel Fall..."

"It would not be that much of an issue if I had been the one to directly cast it. And there is also the fact that the area of effect started to expand beyond the planet and into outer space… not even I can guess what could happen if the spell was not restrained. It was a stroke of luck that my improvised countermeasure using the ley lines were enough to stop the process for long enough until the people from the Anglican Church destroyed the ritual place."

Lillian finally stopped laughing and joined the discussion again. "So tell me, Rázval, what did we got from that experiment?"

"Mainly it confirmed that Academy City is trying to create an angel following a different set of rules from anywhere else in the world based on science alone. The incident that happened while I was still there was no accident. Aleister really wants to achieve the system, and probably put himself on the top of it. Though I am unsure of how exactly he is intending to use that to fulfill his plan."

"Leaving his ultimate goal aside, that artificial heaven of his gives him way too much power." Added Myrin. "On the bright side though, his towering empire will continue to overshadow us if it keeps growing at this pace. Not only the Anglicans, but the Catholics are also feeling some kind of threat coming from there ever since the failure of the Gregorian Chant."

Hearing that, the girl made a signal with her hand and a nearby maid brought her the item she was carrying inside the car. "He can get all the power he wants, it won't make a difference anymore. Now that we have this, I believe we are ready to tackle both Academy City and Necessarius at once." With this statement, she placed it on the table.

It was a longsword with a golden shaft, adorned with tiny crystalline gems on the handguard and protected by a blue sheath with golden patterns drawn onto it. The other two widened their eyes on the sight of the weapon, showing clear disbelief over its presence in front of their eyes.

"You mustn't get too close, Rázval." Warned Lillian. "I can guarantee that its power is real. Me and onii-sama are alright, but you can really die if you show any intention of touching it."

"Oh, of course. How careless of me." With these words, the gray robbed man pulled away from table, but still kept his eyes glued on the item in question while the girl carefully handled it, pulling the sheath just a little bit to reveal the shining silver blade hidden within. It had a light of its own and made the air around it vibrate, which was clear proof of its overwhelming power. "Simply beautiful. Just as one would expect from the Sword of Law. You did a fine job with it, miss Lillian."

"What are you thanking me for? This was only possible thanks to onii-sama."

"That's the least I could do to support you." Myrin said that humbly, but this was actually a tremendous feat, probably rivaling the world class Angel Fall spell Rával set up. "And your involvement was crucial as well. I would not be able to accomplish that if it wasn't for all the allies you made all over the continent."

Smiling in satisfaction, she sheathed the blade and continued talking mischievously. "In any case, the preparations are complete. When do we strike?"

Myrin rested his chin on his hand and dived deep into his long thoughts before answering. "Hmmmmm… It is true that we need to be careful with our timing, but we could also make use of our current momentum. After all, we do have personnel on standby just out of their walls. What do you think, Rázval?"

"Like the commoners say: first come, first served. We should act before the three great churches. However, I do recommend taking some precautions against the other golden remnant cabals beforehand. It is unlikely that they will do anything, but one of them is particularly... troublesome and unpredictable."

"That will not be an issue. I know how to put them in check." Myrin commented proudly while checking his watch. "Shall we do it then? Get yourselves ready. Tomorrow you will give the command and draw out the Seeds of Doubt while I handle the rough edges on the sidelines. If everything goes according to plan..." He stood up and eyed the sword one last time. "Lillian, you know what to do, right?"

"Of course, onii-sama. I can barely wait. The Fool fallen magician won't even know what hit him!"

 **Part 2**

August 31, 1:00 PM, south area of District 3 - Academy City

It was difficult to hide his anxiety as he walked down the streets. In truth, things weren't doing well for Hishiro lately. He was forced to participate in deadly battles with monsters such as Level 5 espers (including the #1) and magicians, all the while trying to grasp the abnormal situation in the city, which he seemed to be part of without wanting. But every step he moved closer to understanding it, it felt like he also took two or three steps away from it.

The only thing he knew for sure is that there was some conflict going on between the higher ups and some maniacs from the said magic side. The problem is that he had no idea as of why. Was Academy City being attacked? How was it going to respond? Was it preparing to fight back at full force with those mechanical espers? What if Academy City is actually the one buying the fight? None of that would matter if it wasn't for one massive problem: why was he chosen to be part of this? What does it mean to be a Seed of Doubt?

 _Well, being it really put a lot of doubt in my mind, so the name is not just for showing._ He had grown used to laughing bitterly at how crazy all of that was. The worst of all is that fate seemed to be actively trying to stop him from doing anything regarding that. The only one that could answer his questions about magic was the nun named Index. Asuka had her on the radar all the time, but ever since the incident with the Five Overs, they didn't had a chance to properly talk to her. Once Hishiro was out of the hospital, she had moved out of the city and only came back yesterday. Today was supposed to be the big day, but Seria had suddenly called him in for a mission, which would probably take the whole day. And tomorrow was the end of summer vacation, which meant...

"Ugh… school. Why do I even bother going there anyway? The money I earn from the missions is more than enough for me, and I could be sniped and drop dead at any given moment, so long term planning is just pointless."

"Don't say anything stupid like that, Shiro. I wouldn't let something like this to happen to you."

"I wonder about that..."

"Hey, I really wouldn't! After all… your face of disgust tomorrow is gonna be PRICELESS!"

"Yeah, yeah, screw you Asuka."

"Oh, such a lifeless rebuttal..."

"*sigh* I'm not in the mood for your bullshit right now."

Luckily, he had arrived at his destination, meaning that Asuka would shut up for the time being. It was a building with several rooms for location, meant to be used in business meetings.

Under regular circumstances, there would be no need for him to come to a place like this personally, even if someone was surveying their communications and actions, but today was different. He wasn't there just to receive the details of the next mission. In Asuka's words, they would be throwing a "welcome party", but for him it was more like an initiation ritual.

In summary, New Pointer would be receiving its new member today, and they were about to meet him or her, which also says a lot about the boy's bad mood.

After entering the building, Hishiro was greeted by the receptionist who told him the room where he was supposed to attend. Taking the elevator, he went to the 6th floor and stopped by the door marked with the number 64, hesitating to open it.

"Are you nervous, Shiro?"

"W-why would I? Don't be ridiculous."

"Don't worry, I'm not making fun of you. It's just natural."

"..."

"Everyone would be thinking the same at your position. Is it a boy? Is it a girl? Is she cute? Is she sexy? Is she younger? Is she a vir-"

"Say one more word and I'm leaving you here!"

"Wait, wait! I'm sorry, I won't do that again! Though I could just hack into anything in there and-"

Hishiro ignored her and turned the doorknob forcefully. He didn't came all the way here just to freeze in front of the door, and if he kept listening to Asuka he would end up snapping, and he wanted to avoid such scenario if possible.

However, little he knew at that point that this was the only possible result regardless of what either him or her did.

"What… the heck… IS THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

Inside the room were two people. One was Kumokawa Seria, who was sitting elegantly at the end sit of the table on the center of the room. The other was a girl with short chestnut hair and wearing Tokiwadai Middle School's uniform. Her back was facing the entrance, but no matter how you looked at it, this girl could only be… "Seria, are you out of your damn mind? What is the meaning of this?!"

"Hello for you too." She answered coldly. "And no, I'm still pretty sane, enough to not go shouting on other's faces when I first meet them."

"What sanity? What first meeting!? THIS PERSON IS THE FREAKING-"

"Ah- have you met her before, Shiro?"

"I-" He cut his own words there, noticing the mistake he had just made a bit too late to fix it. _Crap, I never told them about my meeting with the Railgun before… no, more importantly, she hates me, doesn't she? Will I have to live from now on watching my back at all times? Wait, if Asuka finds out about this, I'm doomed regardless-_

"Alright, that's enough, you two. Get inside and close the door."

Hishiro obeyed by impulse, but in his mind… _this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening. C'mon, am I the only one that sees the problem here?!_

Not noticing (or just simply ignoring) how the boy felt, Seria started talking once again. "First of all, let's allow the new member of our team introduce herself properly. Misaka, could you please turn around now?"

Right after those words were spoken, the girl nodded and did as said with a blank expression. "Hello. I'm Misaka, one of the many Sisters. My serial number is #19998. I'll be counting on you from now on - says Misaka trying to make a good first impression."

The boy was stared blankly at the scene unfolding before his eyes with his jaw dropped. It was impossible to tell what was going through his mind, but Seria still gave it a shot. "What, did you really believe that I had convinced the actual #3 to join us?"

"He… hehehe… ah, so it's just a clone, you scared me for a moment, now I'm so relieved… AS. IF!"

"Watch it, boy. I won't tolerate your tantrums today." The girl warned while staring coldly at him. "You asked for someone capable, didn't you? There you go. She has the experience of fighting Accelerator 10,000 times, and had military and strategy training embedded in her brain via the Testament. What issues could you have with her to be so mad?"

"OH, I do have many, but let's just fucking focus on the most obvious one, shall we?" He leaned forward with both hands on the table and stared back at her in a challenging way. "Two words: Misaka Network. We are already having some information leak issues as is, and now you're bringing in a living backdoor linked to other 10,000 access points that who knows where are all of them by this point! How could that NOT be an issue?"

Seria blinked a few times before closing her eyes and crossing her legs beneath the table. "Do you think I would've brought her here today if that hadn't already been dealt with?"

"The network is not a problem." Added Misaka while pointing to herself. "Ever since the end of the experiments, every Misaka grew out to be its own entity, so while we are all connected, the information and experience exchanged is filtered by our new gained self awareness - explains Misaka, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding."

"That sounds way too convenient for me to just blindly believe in."

"But it's actually true." Added Asuka. "It was written in a report given by Nunotaba Shinobu, the person behind the creation of the Testament, so I'm pretty sure the info is legit."

"I-is that so?" Hishiro had no choice but back down on that line of argument, be he wasn't done yet. "Then what about her lifespan? The accelerated growth would mean she doesn't have more than a few months of life, right?"

"This is not a problem as well. This Misaka was used as an experimental model for the deceleration program, in which the other Sisters are undergoing by now - explains Misaka. Even though my treatment is still not complete, I can participate in the missions without bigger issues - complements Misaka."

"Yuuup, this also matches the reports, before you say anything Shiro."

"I-I wasn't going to!" Frustrated, the boy recurred to his last resource. "So what? Am I supposed to just walk around with a Railgun look alike like it's the most normal thing in the world?"

"Only during missions, yes." Refuted Seria. "It's not like you two are going to be living together or anything, so you should be able to bear that much. Anything else?"

He still thought that doing this would end up getting too much unwanted attention given how famous the Tokiwadai Ace was, but the way she spoke left no room for disagreements. Sitting back on the chair, he let out a sigh and gave up. "No, sorry. I'll resign on the matter for now."

"Yay, you broke through Shiro's defensive walls! Welcome aboard, Misaka-chan!"

"Yes. I'm looking forward to working with you all - says Misaka as she politely bow at the strange talking device."

…

"With that out of the way, I'll be giving you the operation details."

This room didn't have any fancy equipment, so Seria just handed over three sheets of paper with a few pictures and a ton of text that Hishiro didn't even bother reading at the moment. _Seems like this whole meeting was a last hour arrangement._

"Your target this time is an organization named PACK. On the light, they are a delivery service of dangerous chemical and other laboratory needs, but they also deliver weapons and many kinds of resources to several factions of the Dark Side. However, they've been stepping out of the line recently, attempting to smuggle our technology to outside the city."

"I should be surprised that they're being able to pull that off, but honestly, the security on our walls have been shitty these last months." Spat Hishiro.

"Not even I can argue against that." Agreed Asuka. "Still, this group is just a small fry. Shouldn't Anti-Skill been the ones to deal with them?"

"There is where the problem lies… Someone has been keeping Anti-Skill in check recently. They couldn't even mobilize their units during the incident that happened the Research Exhibition Assembly."

"Oh yeah, I think I heard about that. Seems like Judgment had to handle it alone."

"Exactly. That's because there is a huge pressure over the higher ups and other organizations of Academy City right now, stopping them from taking action."

"You're talking about the anti-esper movement, right?" Asuka asked to confirm despite having sure she was right.

The boy narrowed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hand. "I don't know what this is about, but this name is already giving me a headache."

"To put it simply, this all started with a pacific manifestation regarding the low attention Academy City was giving to all researches that didn't involve any esper power development, but then things escalated somehow, involved Skill-Out and a bunch of important people, and now it's a complete mess and no one knows what to do about it anymore. Some extremists want to even stop the esper development as a whole, and arrest all espers that are above level 2 in the name of public safety."

Just as he expected, Asuka's explanation made his skull throb. "What a bunch of nonsense. Academy City only exists because of espers."

"Yes, it's a foolish ideal, but it is gaining strength recently and the authorities can no longer restrain it." Added Seria. "The worse is that the movement is not organised, so there's no leader to target and end it all. And many other factions are taking advantage of the loophole created by it, using the name improperly to do as they want without any consequences. That is the case of PACK, who's been supporting the movement in the name of the laboratories it works with, which makes it difficult to anyone to act and stop them, since they'll officially claim all accusations to be a discrimination towards the movement as a whole."

"We aren't officially affiliated to any party, so no one can raise any complaints if we are the ones to eliminate them. Is that it? Asks Misaka in order to confirm her understanding of the situation."

"Yes. And since they are confident of their impunity, they shouldn't offer much resistance. It will probably be an easy job for you to get used to our work, Misaka-san."

 **Part 3**

7:22 PM, eastern side of District 16

"It'll be an easy job, she said… right. How are we even supposed to do this?"

In theory, it sounded simple enough. Get into the property, cause a lot of damage, capture or kill the leader, and leave before civilians notice what happens. The problem lied on the last part though. District 16 was the part of Academy City with the heavier concentration of commercial buildings, which meant that at this time of the day, it was probably one of the busiest as well. That's probably why they decided to make their hideout there, which really looked like any other decent business running in the same street. Even the front door was open for the clients to come in, and there was not even a single undercover guard there. In the eyes of the countless passersby, what they were about to do looked no more than invade a random store and cause a massacre inside - there was simply no way to disguise it. "Seriously, wouldn't it be better to wait for dusk to kick in?"

"Negative. They are going to deliver their cargo at 10 PM and we cannot allow that to happen - says Misaka while checking her equipment one more time."

"And I don't think the crowd will walk away any time soon, Shiro. Some people might be wanting to enjoy their last day of vacation to the last minute."

"Well, that's what I was planning to do if I wasn't working, so I can't exactly complain."

Silence fell on the three of them for a few minutes as they tried to come with a plan to solve the issue. "Hey, Misaka-chan… don't you have any ideas? You received that super training and your sisters had to participate in obscure experiments, right?"

"Even with that knowledge, this is no simple task. Our best option is to wait for an opening to sneak inside, seal the exits finish everything without making much noise - says Misaka while she observes attentively the movement of civilians on the street."

"I've been playing this waiting game way too much lately." Said Hishiro with a sigh. "By the way, can't we call you something else? Saying Misaka all the time feels like it'll shorten my lifespan for some reason."

The girl blinked a couple of times and tilted her head as she turned her attention to him. "Does my serial number works? - Suggests Misaka."

"19998 is quite a mouthful though… don't you have anything else? Something like a nickname or a codename?"

"Number 20001 was given the codename Last Order, but this Misaka never had such a thing - informs Misaka while pondering why is this a problem."

"Then let's give you one right now."

"You're treating her like a pet, Shiro."

"How come?!"

"A pet… then could my codename be Kitty? - Asks Misaka starting to like the idea."

"N-no, that's a bit too much no matter how you look at it." Hishiro had to hold back to not scream at Asuka and blow up their cover on the spot, reminding him of something very important. "And let me warn you: if you care for your sanity, be careful with what Asuka says. Most of the time, everything she speaks that are unrelated to the missions isn't worth paying attention to, got it?"

"Yes, I'll keep that in mind - says Misaka thankful for the useful advice."

"H-hey? That's not true at all!"

The three of them kept arguing on for quite some time while still waiting for the perfect opportunity to arise. "What about Akasim?"

"Laaaaaame. That's just her name backwards, Shiro. It has to be something cuter, like… Mimi."

"You gotta be kidding me! Are you going to call a military clone by that?"

"I don't see the problem."

"Ugh, of course you don't. It's you after all."

"Wouldn't it be better to use some characteristic as a base to decide on the name? Suggested Misaka."

"Though that's kinda what you do to name pets..."

"What do you have in mind, Misaka-chan?"

"... Sparky." She said that with a blank smile while sending a few sparks flying around. Both Hishiro and Asuka fell painfully silent at the scene, but she at least seemed to be having fun.

"No… as I thought, it has to be Misa-Misa."

"Wait, Asuka, aren't we going to get some copyright issues with that name in particular? Let's just take the first two algorithms of her serial number and call her Number 19."

"No, no, no, THAT one is going to have some serious copyright issues. If you're going with numbers, than you should be using the two last instead."

"98? That doesn't sound cool."

"Well…. Mix them then. Keep the nine (KYU) and the last part of eight (haCHI) and there you go."

"Kyuchi?"

"Yup! It sounds cute AND legitimate at the same time!"

"Ehh… I don't know. Hakyu would sound better. What do you think?"

"Kyu...chi. Hm, it makes sense. You can call me Kyuchi from now on - nods Misaka in approval."

"She says that, but she keeps calling herself Misaka… ah, whatever."

Finally, after an hour and half of waiting and observing, the number of people in that street finally dropped considerably. "Hey, you two. If we're gonna do it today, it has to be right now. In about fifteen seconds, the last people will be crossing the entrance of the building and the are will be clear. There won't be another opportunity like this. Are you ready?"

"Fucking finally!" The boy stretched his back and grinned sadistically towards their goal. "Can't wait to shed some blood to make up for all this wasted time."

"Ready and set - confirms Misaka as she counts down the remaining time." She lowered her military goggles and held the assault rifle in position ready to fire.

Once the last civilians passed by, the two dashed fast and quietly towards the building. Hishiro stopped by the front door and waited for his partner to reach the backdoor while he equipped the silencer in his pistol. It was probably impossible to not make any noise at all, but with this they could at least reduce the mess it would cause.

Soon, he heard a commotion happening inside, meaning that Kyuchi had already got in and drew the attention of whoever was on the first floor. He then kicked the door open, shooting the woman behind the counter and the other two males that were inside. He didn't know if that had killed them, but they weren't screaming for help, and that was all that counted. The female seemed to have drawn a gun to fight back before getting hit, but wasn't fast enough to shoot before he did. _Well, this at least confirms this place is shady. Would've been bad if this was the wrong building._

Moving deeper inside, he could hear some gunshots. Given the time between the noises, those clearly weren't from Kyuchi's rifle, so those guys were obviously fighting back. "Shit… we gotta get this over with as soon as possible."

Soon enough, he found the building's fuse box and blew it with a small device meant to fry electronic devices, turning off all the lights and giving him his so loved dark advantage, pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket. "Her goggles should also be able to deal with that, so now this is our territory!"

Hishiro made his way through all the rooms he found, destroyed all equipment they had, burned all files and _silenced_ everyone that crossed his path. There was no noise of gunshots anymore, all he heard were footsteps, so either that clone got killed or she managed to defeat her enemies. Either way, this was good. The less noise they made the better.

After confirming that the floor was clear, he made his way towards the stairs - but something pushed him from the side with quite some force, making him fall flat on the floor. And right after, he felt a slippery sensation covering the ground around him.

"W-who the hell are you?!" He heard the voice coming from just a little away from where he was, but because he had let the flashlight go when he fell, he couldn't exactly see the person shouting at him.

"It doesn't matter, since you'll be dead in a moment!" Hishiro got up and pointed this gun towards the direction the voice was coming from, but before he could pull the trigger, the person _slid on the floor at an absurd speed_ and landed a brutal punch on his shoulder. Thanks to the slippery floor, he couldn't sustain his balance after that and fell down again while drifting backwards until he hit the wall behind.

 _Wait… there's ice on the floor? How? It wasn't there a moment ago?_ The boy gave up on trying to stand and just shot all of his remaining bullets at the enemy, who dodged all of them while sliding unnaturally on the frozen surface. _Wait… is this guy a-_

Hishiro understood what was going on too late and the foe was already coming at him, ready to kick him right in the face. All the boy could do was to cross his arms and try to defend from the incoming strike… which actually never came.

"Gh-gh-gh-gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The scream of agony was followed by a loud thud, and then all the ice that was there suddenly disappeared. It took a few seconds for the boy to figure out what had just happened. The person that had just attacked him was unconscious on the floor, and standing nearby him was no one other than… "Are you alright? - Asks Misaka while showing concern for her senpai."

His partner was there, probably coming down after going upstairs, all the while carrying two adult bodies on each shoulders and offering him a hand to help him get up. "N-never mind me, I can stand up on my own… wait, what was that? Did Asuka told you to call me that?"

"Isn't that how someone should refer to their superiors? - Asks Misaka while questioning what she was taught by the Testament based on the boy's reaction."

"... okaaaaay, you're not wrong, but you don't actually need to do that. To be honest, I beg you to not to." He said while getting up and scratching the back of his head. Then his attention was drawn to the bodies once again. "Who are they?"

"The leaders of the faction. I found them hiding in a secret room on the fourth floor - reports Misaka."

"Fourth floor?! You went that far in such a short span of time?!"

"Correct. I also made sure to destroy all evidence and knocked down all enemies along the way, which means our mission is complete - reports Misaka feeling a certain sense of accomplishment."

… _unbelievable. Not even when we were in seven we could do something like this so fast._ He couldn't help but stare blankly with a bit of cold sweat running down from his forehead. "G-good job. Keep going like this."

"Thanks - says Misaka making a light bow to not lose balance."

Hishiro felt awkward as they left the building from the back door and waited for the vehicle that would take the four suspects away, making a random comment to clear up the mood. "Still… to think that a group that supposedly supports the anti-esper movement to be actually using an esper of that level."

"It is indeed strange, and he wasn't the only one. There were other three others on the upper floors - complements Misaka."

"Heh… the irony."

That moment Hishiro's personal cell phone rang. He usually didn't carry that around because he hated to be interrupted, and there was no one he cared about that knew his number anyway - but the situation has changed recently. It wasn't exactly a call he had received, it was just a message, but given who was the sender…

"Asuka, Kyuchi, sorry but can you handle the rest?"

"Eh? Why are you dropping out so soon, Shiro?"

"There's something important I have to take care of today, if you know what I mean."

"It's about your class tomorrow? Aww… Aunt Asuka is feeling proud to see you actually care."

The boy almost growled, but he was thankfully interrupted by the other girl before he had a chance to. "Understood. I'll wait here for the cleanup team - says Misaka."

"Thanks. See ya."

…

"Fine, this should be far enough… and there's no security camera around. Perfect."

Hishiro walked around randomly for a while until he found a good blind spot where he could safely check the message while being sure Asuka wouldn't be spying on him. Not wasting time, he swiftly flipped his phone and opened the message.

From: Nayuta

Subject: No Subject

Hello, Hishiro onii-san. Have you been doing well?

I'll go straight to the point: when I looked the files you had sent me that day, I really thought you were crazy, but since you asked me soooo kindly to do it, I took a look in the _Kihara Secret Database_ (not the actual name by the way ;) ) and I found something really interesting.

I'm not sure how, but a sample of Evelina Rosenberg's DNA was passed around from person to person in the shadows ever since back then - and it's not the one guarded by Nagatenjouki Academy, nor the one in possession of Anti-Skill for identification. And that's not all, it seems like her DNA had suffered some kind of mutation at some point. Not to mention there's no record of that sample being taken before the accident at all. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Well, this is just speculation from my part, but I don't see any other possibility. The sample was taken after the experiment, and that is why her DNA was altered. Now what all that means… I'll leave it to your imagination while I'll keep looking for more.

"... what."

His body was frozen in place for several minutes. He read and re-read the message several times, but he couldn't swallow what it meant. His heart was beating so fast he thought he was about to have a heart attack, and his whole body started feeling uncomfortably hot, which was an almost foreign sensation for him, all while his fingers holding the phone were getting so cold that they started to tremble.

"Just… what the hell? What the hell is going on here!?"

 **Between the Lines**

How long has it been? I'm ashamed to admit, but I don't exactly the exact date. I should be about four or five years old at the time. It's the oldest memory I'm able to recall.

Yes, I don't remember anything from out of Academy City. It's almost like… I was simply there when I came to be. Within all those other kids, surrounded by those light yellow walls of the room that was basically our home. We all slept there, ate there, studied there, played there, and even though we left for some outside activities every now and then, we spent most of our time there.

A bunch of children without parents… in this city, we are cruelly called Child Errors. We are nothing but dead weights for the society until we can prove our worth in a way or another, regardless of our wills. Though it's not like we had any maturity to decide our own path back then. We simply lived out of the "good will" of the adults around us, which we actually trusted from the depths of our hearts, as if they were our family. Well… maybe I think at least some thought that way.

For some reason, I was different from the others. I could sense something else hiding beneath those kind smiles they gave us. It's not like they were ill-willed or intended to hurt us, but I still felt uneasy near them. I was sure they were hiding something important. I would sometimes sneak out in the middle of the night and heard them talking about things I didn't understand what it meant at the time, but our names were mentioned in the middle of all that.

Time moved on… I don't know exactly how much later was this, but someday, the situation changed. We were taken to a laboratory by a large bus to take some "tests" the adults said. Supposedly, we have been there before, but I have no memory of that. I didn't recognized the place at all. We were taken to different rooms, each led by two that looked like doctors. I remember the ones that took me were an old man with a funny smile that always tried to make me laugh with sock puppets and a woman with curly black hair that had a bad habit of scratching the tip of her nose all the time. Inside the room, they first made a lot of difficult questions, then they would drop different objects from a high shelf to the floor while saying things like "pay attention to it while it falls" or "wouldn't it be cool if it could go back to their place on their own?"

The whole process was confusing and made no sense to me. All I knew at the time is that I got labeled as a Level 2, despite having no idea of what it meant.

* * *

 **Hello once again. It's been a while (that's almost becoming my catchphrase by now) but I'm happy that I manage to finish this still in August. Why, you ask? Well, of course… because this month marks two years since this fic begun! Last year I had completely forgot about it, but not this time! A round of applause please!**

 **Geez, time sure flies. I don't know about you guys, but for me, it doesn't feel like it's been this long. Anyway, I was actually preparing a special surprise to celebrate, but unfortunately, it wasn't finished in time for me to show you with the release of this chapter. And there are still a few things that need to be decided first before making it public, so it might still take some time, but i'm hopeful that it will be done. Eventually.**

 **Okay, leaving all that aside for now, let's talk about the story. I would love to jump right into the action, but there were a few loose ends that needed to be tied first, so this chapter server as a interlude for that. Still, I did put a lot of important info for the new arc in there, especially in part 1. The trio that leads the antagonistic magic cabal, their hideout, and their super weapon… all revealed at once. Well, superficially, at least. That brings the new OC Lilian to the fight. She will be quite present from now on, so I hope you will grow to like her (or to hate her… or to like to hate her, if you know what I mean) in the future. Btw, if there are any geographical mistakes, I apologize in advance. I know I did a pretty stupid one last chapter, and I tried my best to avoid it here, but I actually don't know much of Japan's or Germany's geography, so… yeah.**

 **And we finally have our new member here, which turns out to be Misaka 19998. If you look back, I've been foreshadowing this for quite some time, but it finally happened… and I'm not sure if it will please everyone, because some of my friends told me that this was quite the stretch. Can't deny that. But I couldn't resist the urge to do so. There is so much I can do with her around that it would be a shame to not make it happen. And not only that, but had to give her a nickname, because writing Misaka all the tie would make it confusing when Misaka actually appears again (*hints*). So, there you go. Welcome aboard Kyuchi.**

 **Replies:**

 **Guest: 1. Yeah, I wondered about that for a while, but in the end I decided to leave this out. After all, the level 6 shift, while related, wasn't the focus of their mission. As you can see in this chapter, they are both aware of some details regarding the cancellation of the project, but to spice things up, I won't mention HOW MUCH do they know. Tehehehe…. 2. That sounded like a really good idea, but I had already decided to skip the actual Angel Fall despite being a key point of the story, both to avoid getting too close to messing with the canon and… well… if I don't skip a few things, this will never get to the end.**

 **The crack shipping guy: Thanks! I really put a lot of effort in that battle. It had to be that way because I could see every detail of it in my mind as if I was watching it in the anime. Glad to know it was worth it! Don't worry, there will be more science focused arcs in the future. And yeah, there she is, so I guess I'm safe from those sparks for now. XP**

 **Thank you all for your support. I've been slow lately, but I'll try to release the next chapter before the first episode of season 3 airs. And if I don't… blame my hype for that. See you next time!**


	26. UnLucky First Move

**V**

 **Chapter 26: The Aftermath is the Second Round**

 **(Un)Lucky_First_Move**

 **Part 1**

September 1, 7:09 AM.

As usual, Hishiro woke up with the sunlight hitting his face through the window of his hideout in District 10. Today was the day he would have to go back to school, but that was the least of his worries right now. All he could think about since last night was the message he had received from Nayuta.

The mutated DNA sample that could be only retriven after the accident. That would only be possible if...

 _No, I can't get my hopes up. There gotta be another explanation for this._ That was the most logical approach to the situation, but he couldn't stop his head from going wild. His feelings were getting the worst of him, and probably for this exact reason, his judgment was blinded and stopped him from looking at it from a different perspective, closing a perfect vicious cycle. _Shit, I need to calm down._

He dragged his body to the refrigerator and took the first thing he saw - a small cup of yogurt. Though eating didn't cooled his head, it at least helped in fully waking up his brain. "*sigh*... I wish I could skip class today, but if Asuka finds out, she'll know something's wrong… I need to avoid that."

From his hideout, he only needed 20 minutes to get to school, but nothing he did in there right now would do him any good, so despite being early, he headed outside. _Maybe walking will clean up my head somehow._ Unfortunately it didn't, but on the bright side, at least the streets on the path he took were mostly empty, giving off a peaceful atmosphere.

The school Hishiro currently attended could be called to be at the bottom of the high class institutions of Academy City. It was nothing to be made fun of, but when surrounded by all the other better looking schools of District 16, it felt kind of plain in comparison. Still, it had a nice front garden and both the gate and the entrance of the main building gave off a welcoming feeling with its walls painted in gray and white, which were clearly well maintained during the summer vacation.

Having arrived early, there weren't many students around the campus. He made his way through the hallways with the familiar wood floor and beige walls and headed upstairs, going for the first room on the left side of the second floor. He was glad it was still empty, which gave him the freedom to pick whichever sit he wanted. Far from the window and far from the blackboard was always his best choice, so he sat down on the last chair of the right row, dropped his bag behind it, crossed his arms over the desk and laid his head on top of it. It was not that he was feeling tired or anything, but getting some sleep now would at least make the wait until class time more bearable. He just wanted to get this over with asap and go back into doing what really mattered.

Not long after, the boy heard a few of his classmates arriving, chatting with one another about what they did on vacation and other trivial things. None of them paid him any heed due to the "no approach" aura he was emitting.

…

"Yo!"

*Bump*

Suddenly, Hishiro felt a heavy impact on his back, following the familiar but not so liked voice. After being forcefully dragged out of his sleep, it took a while to remember where he was and figure out who had done that to him. Without raising his head, he simply replied with a growl. "Dammit, Masato! Don't do that!"

"Ihihihih, sorry, but I just HAD to. Sleeping on the first day, you're asking to for someone to prank you."

"What stupid logic is that? No one else but you ( _or maybe Asuka_ ) would think like that."

"You don't know..."

"Just look around! No one bothered me until you showed up, idiot!"

Masato was the only person in the class that would talk to Hishiro like that. It was all part of the boy's strategy, actually. He would rather not get involved with anyone from the light side whose he would cross paths on a daily basis, but complete isolation on school could cause him some trouble, so after studying the class for a couple of days, he choose the most stupid and easy to trick person on the class to fulfill the role of "friend" in front of the other students. Like that, he could keep the others away after being labelled as "the one who hangs out with THAT guy", and he could give any sort of excuse to him if he needed to cover something up. Masato would believe anything he said without question and spread the story around to the teachers and the others if needed. For example:

"By the way, Shiro-kun, where were you during the vacation? I knocked on your door on the dorm the other day and no one answered."

"I left the city. Spent time with my family. Stuff like that."

"I see. Well, it's a shame. You lost quite a lot of fun while you were out."

"I bet I did. Seeing you get dumped a thousand times in the same night trying to pick up on random girls never gets old."

"How did you kno- I mean, c'mon! That never happened!"

"It did."

"But it wasn't a thousand times!"

"The last one beat you to a pulp. That raised the counter to a thousand on the score."

"B-but she was a Level 4 from Tokiwadai!"

"You're the only moron I know who would approach a girl from Tokiwadai like that."

"S-shut up, you got no girls that night too!"

"Because I didn't even tried."

"Isn't that worse?"

"The score was 0 x -1000. I don't think that's worse. And by the way, you still own me 10,000 yen for winning."

"T-the bet isn't over yet! Just you wait, I'll make a legendary come back before the end of the year!"

"Yeah, go for it."

Actually, it baffled Hishiro how the guy still wanted to be around him when he kept giving monotone replies like that. But this was way better than faking enthusiasm to match Masato's, so he didn't complain.

That moment, the homeroom teacher arrived and the class became noisy as everyone hurried to their sits. Only then Hishiro raised his head and noticed the tall male sitting two desks away from him, with a black hair that was longer than the one he remembered. _Did… Masato let his hair grow? Huh..._ He regretted missing the opportunity to comment on that, but his mind was somewhere else entirely that day. Nor he would have time to worry about that.

"We are going to start things in a different way this term. In order to improve the performance of our students, the faculty will be implementing a new Ability Enhancement System, which will increase the chances of raising the level of your abilities, as well raising your average grades. For that, we will have an ability test once every week, starting off right now. So we're all going to the gymnasium, line up there, and wait until your names are called, like usual."

The announcement caused a bit of restlessness in the class, but everyone followed the instructions without complaining. For Hishiro, he actually preferred doing that instead of having actual classes. But the problem lies on what probably would come for him afterwards.

…

Just like he predicted, he was called to the faculty office when the results were out. Masato and a few others made fun of him, wondering what he had done to get himself in trouble, but he simply ignored them and headed to the room in question.

There, his homeroom teacher awaited him while studying a couple of paper sheets with a serious look on his face, that softened once he saw his student getting in. "Yamasaki-kun, I would like to talk with you for a moment. Do you mind?"

The boy answered with a heavy sigh. "It's not like you're gonna let me go if I say I do."

"Yes. If you understand, then take a sit there, please."

He did as told and sat on a chair right in front of the teacher. There was no one else in the room, the guy had gone to the trouble of arranging this situation for them to talk alone. Which meant this was going to take a while.

This man called Itsuki (Hishiro never bothered to learn his other name) was the most cliche image of a "perfect teacher" you could find. Tall, neat brown hair, rectangular glasses, kind voice, seemed to care deeply for all students… it was too good to be true. Needless to say, everyone liked him (specially the girls). But Hishiro's experience with the dark side allowed him to see a bit beyond his facade, so he could tell that there was more to him than your eyes could notice. Every time his eyes met someone else's, it felt like this person was trying to peer deeply into one's soul and rip out in the open any shadows within there that were meant to stay hidden (specially with the girls), which is why the boy avoided him as much as possible. After all, his "shadows" were heavier than your regular person, and he could not allow anyone to get near them.

With a (fake) smile, the Itsuki handed him the papers and asked. "Yamasaki-kun, what do you think about your test results?"

The boy glanced over them without giving their meaning much thought before answering. "They're normal, I think? It says I'm still a Level 3."

"It is true that your level hasn't changed, but the specific parameters of your abilities performance are lower than last time."

"Is that so?"

The smile disappeared from the teacher's face and got replaced by a (possibly fake) sad expression. "And you don't seem to be much worried about this either."

Hishiro could only curse his bad acting for letting that one slip. "I mean, isn't it normal for these number to oscillate every now and then? I don't understand why I should be worried."

"It is true that multiple external factors tend to influence the tests, which can lower the results occasionally even if we try to avoid them, but even I can tell that this is not your case."

"Then what do you think it is my case?"

Hishiro tried to keep his poker face as best as he could, but the smuggle face that was reflected in Itsuki eyes didn't match his efforts at all. He could tell that this man could see the arrogance hidden within his words. "Yamazaki-kun… could it be that you have been holding back during the tests on purpose?"

 _...shit._ The boy's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly at the accusation, but he didn't gave in at all. And the teacher continued. "Also, even though everyone in your class improved their grades in the last term, yours are the only ones that were kept on the minimum acceptable average ever since you enrolled in the academy. You're also keeping them like this on your own will as well, aren't you?"

This wasn't the first time Hishiro have been called to talk about his ability and grades. Ever since he started doing dirty jobs for Academy City, his official identity had changed countless times - which implied in changing not only schools, but also years as well, since his age wouldn't be the same when he had to become someone different. Because of that, he had climbed up and down in the educational system like crazy and lost all attachment for studying in the process. It was impossible for a child at his actual age back then to keep up with all the abrupt changes. And this habit hadn't changed at all once he grew up. There would be no point in putting effort into studies if that version of him could simply vanish in a clap, so he would only study by himself the stuff he actually had any interest into, or he felt would be useful for the moment.

However, that kind of attitude had a peculiar side effect. Null Inertia was not a simple ability to use. It didn't require absurd calculations like teleportation would, but it still took a lot to create a field intended to apply the exact amount of opposite force to a moving body in order to make it stop. And aiming for more efficient use required more mathematical and physical tricks, things that schools in Academy City should be in charge of helping the Espers with. Due to his lax attitude though, his power growth not only came to an absolute halt, but he also never used them to their fullest unless his life depended on it. So more than once, the teaching staff of a few schools caught up with his irregular results, but that was the first time someone had read him enough to say he was holding back.

Trying to turn the tables on him, Hishiro made an awkward smile and replied in an innocent tone. "That's kind of cruel, Itsuki-sensei. It's not like I wouldn't want to have better grades or improve as an Esper, but I barely managed to make it to the minimum I needed. Is it wrong to be happy for not letting anything drop below the red line?"

"No, of course not." Said Itsuki, mirroring his smile (which was completely fake). "After all, your grades are also the only one among the lower averages that never ever went below the 'red line' like you said, in no subject at all. But that's exactly what makes it the most suspicious. It's just unnatural."

The boy had to avoid looking into the man's eyes to try and think of a proper reply that could take him out of this situation, but he couldn't do that fast enough. Itsuki simply put on even more pressure on him. "Listen, I don't know why you're doing this, and it's okay if you don't want to share your reasons with me. But as your teacher, I worry a lot about you. I know you can do better than this. I can see the growing potential in you… something that none of the others have."

In a subtle movement that only a pro like Hishiro would notice, the man leaned closer and intensified his glare on the boy. "Something that somewhat resembles myself… yes, I see a lot of me in you, Yamazaki-kun. That's why I know. Hiding behind this dark mask you put on the outside, there's a brilliant mind just waiting to awaken. You and I are just the same."

 _What is this guy implying here?_ Feeling an unexpected sense of danger, Hishiro pulled himself away from the teacher that leaned even further towards him. "Don't you want to find out? How far can you go? What can you achieve if you aim higher? Who you can surpass if give it your all? Aren't you curious?"

That moment, they heard a knock on the door, followed by the timid footsteps. "Teacher, Yumi-san is asking for help to- ah… is-is this a bad time?"

The girly voice changed the atmosphere in the room instantly. Itsuki, who seemed ready to jump over the boy just a moment ago, was now sitting back on his chair normally and smiled at the girl. "No, we are done here. I can go see Yumi-chan right now." And he headed to the exit, following the girl as if nothing had happened. But he left his final words just before leaving the room. "Think seriously about what we just talked, Yamazaki-kun."

Dumbfold, the boy stood still for a minute or so trying to understand what had just happened. "He couldn't have just gone back to that position so fast, so how… was it just my imagination?" Giving up, he let out another sigh and decided to go home. Since he was left alone there, no one could prove he had skipped the last period if he used the call to the faculty office as an excuse. _Maybe I'm getting paranoid or something… Yeah, that gotta be it._

 **Part 2**

Sherry Cromwell.

The woman with blond messy hair, brown skin and wearing a black goth dress had no trouble breaking into the walls of academy city using her earth based spells. It was so easy it would make anyone suspicious, but even if she was "allowed" in, it would change nothing. Her mind was set on accomplishing her goal even if the science side prepared a trap and fought back.

But, maybe that's exactly why she failed to notice that the door she had opened was also used by the other two that came walking inside behind her.

One was clearly shorter than the other, but they both wore the same dark gray robe with golden decorations and a black hood that kept their faces hidden. Once inside, they took cover from a safe distance from Sherry and out of the sight of the security cameras.

The smaller couldn't contain her excitement and expressed her feelings while bouncing around like a child. "Kihihihi! That was tooooo easy! What a narrow minded woman! I bet she wouldn't notice even if I started touching her!"

"Hey now, don't be this harsh. You do know why this worked, right? She is alert and expecting some resistance from the inside to oppose her, which is only natural in this situation, and that leaves a blind spot for those with a _similar_ goal. It would be amazing if she actually noticed something."

"But, but - if you knew all that, why didn't you brought _him_ with us?"

"Stupid. It is not a matter of being able to get in or not. He cannot exist outside of the sanctuary, and if I did that inside the city, Aleister would find us in a blink of an eye."

"EHHHHH? Then, how is this plan going to work? I don't get it."

The taller one sighed at her partner's carelessness. "You seriously came all the way here without thinking it through? Well, whatever… you don't really need to understand. Just trust me and do as I say. Everything will work out eventually."

"Yayay - gotcha! Can I go then? Can I? Can I?"

"Geez, be patient, Cristina. If you leave now and start making a ruckus, you'll be found in no time. Wait here until I give you the signal."

"Awwwww, that's not fair! Why are you leaving me behind? I want to go play with the Seeds of Doubt too!"

"Don't worry, they're all yours. I will call you the moment I find them. So be a good girl and wait, okay?"

"Fiiiiine..." Pouting, the smaller person sat on the ground with legs and arms crossed, revealing the high heels and stockings she was wearing, while the other adjusted her hood and left their hiding place, pursuing the other intruder while moving from shadow to shadow.

 _If the information Rázval provided us is correct, then I'll probably be able to see "that" if I keep following Sherry for a while. It'll be a good opportunity even if it risks the success of the our mission._

 **Part 3**

Since that day was the first school day after the summer vacation, classes ended earlier than usual. For that reason, the blue eyes blond little girl in her elementary school uniform and a red beret on her head had to wait longer than usual in front of the school gates for her friend to come pick her up.

Her name was Fremea Seivelun.

Due to several complicated circumstances that she did not understand, she spent most of her time under the cares of Komaba Ritoku, a large man who stood as the leader of the Skill-Out - though she probably had no idea of what that meant. For her, all that mattered is that they got along well, so despite the fact they were not relatives, she saw no problem with staying with him.

But that day would be different. From afar, instead of the large figure of Ritoku, she saw a girl with similar blond hair and blue eyes that she had. "Onee-chan?!"

"Surprise! Did you miss me?"

"ONEE-CHAN!" Shouting with a wide smile on her face, the little sister jumped on Frenda's arms who had to take a step back to stop her sudden tackle. "How? In the first place, you told me you would be busy today."

"Basically, I can make an exception for my dear sister every now and then, right?" Actually, this was Frenda's plan all along. She had gone out of her way to get the day off and make sure no one from ITEM would be able to find her so she could spend the whole day with Fremea.

It was supposed to be a relaxing day for the two of them, but they unfortunately had chosen to hang out in the underground mall of District 7. And that particular day, in the underground mall…

"!"

"Onee-chan… that was..."

Not long after lunch, a telepathic message was sent to everyone in the area warning about the possible presence of a terrorist inside the mall. Frenda jumped out of her chair and grabbed Fremea's wrist without thinking twice. "Come. We need to get out of here." Had she been alone, she would make sure to make the said terrorist pay for ruining her afternoon, but she couldn't risk getting Fremea hurt over it.

Heading to the closest exit, the blonde couldn't help but click her tongue as the sheer amount of people gathered there trying to get away from danger blocked the way. Members of Judgment were trying to organize a line and make the evacuation more efficient, but it would take a while until everyone was calm enough to obey them.

Overrun by impatience, the older sister gave up on leaving by conventional methods and turned to the opposite direction, dragging the confused Fremea with her. Being an underground facility, there were many ventilation ducts and hidden passways meant for maintenance of the structure. As long as they hadn't yet isolated the place - which could happen any time - these could be used to get outside, if one knew where to go. It didn't took long for Frenda to find one of these as she ran her free hand on the walls while walking. Feeling something out of place, she came to a stop. "Okay Fremea, could you please turn around and cover your ears?"

"Huh? Y-yeas, but… in the first place, what are you going to do."

"It's a surprise." Trusting her older sister words and smile, the girl did as she was told. Frenda quickly took out her special duct tape, sticked it in key points of the wall and ignited one of the edges. The spark spread out fast along the tape, and in a matter of seconds the wall was down, revealing the hidden corridor on the other side.

Feeling the shockwave from the impact of the wall hitting the floor, Fremea curiously pecked over her shoulders and her eyes widened in disbelief. "Amazing..."

"I am, right~! Come, we're going this way."

The layout of the passage was rather simple and they managed to make their way up to a maintenance office. However, the path was badly lit, and they failed to notice the robbed figure using the same path to move within the mall without being seen by her target of observation. "My… is this fate or is luck on our side today? Cristina, the Seeds of Doubt just passed by me down here."

…

Once outside, Frenda stretched her arms and finally allowed the tension to flow away from her body. "Hmmmmmmm~ Piece of cake. But I have to admit, this surprised me a little."

"Onee-chan… won't we be in trouble for breaking the wall like that?"

"It was an emergency, so it's probably alright. In the end, these passages were made to be used in times like this too. But we can't do that without a good reason, you hear me?" She added, still trying to somehow maintain a good image in front of Fremea, but the truth was that she regretted a little having to recur to such methods in front of her sister. "Ah, it's hot outside… do you want ice cream?"

Nodding, Fremea seemed to have forgotten all about that in a blink of an eye at the mention of ice cream, much to Frenda's relief. But they would never be able to enjoy it together.

It happened just before they got to the stall.

A girl in grey robes about the same size as Frenda blocked their way with her arms while removing her black hood, revealing her beautiful face and long light brown hair. Her black eyes seemed to stare deep into their minds while her mouth twisted as if she was about to cry.

Frenda blinked a few times in surprise. Just laying her eyes in this girl made her anxious, though she couldn't exactly understand why. "H-huh… excuse me, but..."

"You two… are in terrible danger. Your future will be tainted with darkness and death if you don't act to change it now."

"Future?" Frenda asked out of confusion, but instead of answers, the girl placed both her hands on Frenda's shoulders and leaned closer, almost making their forehead touch. Before she could panic due to this sudden approach, she noticed something inside the girl's eyes. There was something like a small red dot right in the middle of it that slowly started to spread out, dying her whole iris in red.

"It's not too late yet. If you want to change your fate, I can help you." Mesmerized by the sight, the blonde simply nodded without giving any thought to what the other girl had said. And then, as a smile that seemed of pure happiness was drawn in her face, the girl pulled away and…

Everything stopped to make sense.

The street was suddenly devoid of people besides the three of them. The robe the girls was wearing dropped, revealing a quite daring black bunny outfit from within it, bunny ears appeared on her hair, and she pulled a microphone from… somewhere unknown. That happy expression was replaced by something that seemed to be both innocent and cruel at the same time.

"Then leeeeeeeet's begin! Welcome to the Wheel of Fortune! The show where our contestants fight and struggle to death in hope to change their future! I, Cristina, will be the announcer of today's trial of will! And here with me are… two of the Seeds of Doubt!"

Applause and cheers roared unaturaly around them, even though there was no one else there. The two sisters were left speechless in front of what was probably the weirdest event of their lives so far.

Ignoring them, Cristina made a big jump and pulled a huge machine… out of nothingness. It was a large colorful wheel adorned with light lamps and a long lever attached on it. "So without further ado, let's hop into our first event! Now pay attention everyone! The result of the roulette will decide the starting point of these two ladies journey. They can also get an instant game over or get the best fortune right off the bat! Aren't you all excited? I'm sure I am! Here we gooooooooooo~~~~~!"

She then pulled the lever and the wheel started spinning. Not sure of what to do, Frenda's eyes ran wild trying to find anything logical to serve as a pillar for her to understand what was going on. That's why her sight fell into the robes on the floor and she finally remembered.

 _Yes, that man… wasn't Rázval wearing this same robe when I met him? So that means…!_

The moment she realized what was going on, it probably was already too late to stop what had been set in motion. She tried to grab Fremea's hand and run away, but her sister brushed her off. Her eyes were dyed in the same red as Cristina's, and were glued on the spinning roulette, that had just stopped on a pocket watch symbol.

"Oh, that's a good one! Aren't you two lucky? Today's game will be a timed race to the wonderland! I hope you are fast enough to keep up with the white rabbit, or else you'll get lost in the magic hole! Are you ready?"

She then stalled her fingers and golden coins rained over Frenda, blocking her sight for good 10 seconds. Once it was over….

"Huh? HUH? What the-"

Everything was gone. She was there, standing on the exact same spot as she was before the whole madness begun, surrounded by the people walking down the street. Cristina was gone, the machine was gone, and Fremea…

"Fremea? Fremea?! Fremea, where are you?!"

While looking around searching for her sister, she caught a glimpse of the gray robe making its way through the crowd. She broke into pursuit, running as fast as she could to reach it, but it seemed to move just as fast as she did. "Wait!"

Following it, she turned a corner into a dead end. The girl and her sister were nowhere to be seen, but she found a red letter lying on the floor. Being the only hint left behind, Frenda picked it up and opened it.

 _Find the white rabbit before 22:00, or there will be no future for neither of you. Good luck._

 **Part 4**

For the most part, that was a tense afternoon.

Because of some terrorist that managed to break into Academy City, Hishiro and Misaka 19998, a.k.a. Kyuchi, were forced go back and forth patrolling and standby watches all over district 7 to be ready in case someone were to make use of the confusion to cross the line. After several hours, the incident was finally resolved and they were dismissed, but the uneasiness was still lurking inside Hishiro's mind. Which led him and Asuka to pry a little further into it

"There, finally managed to break through. Phew, this one wasn't like the others. Someone really put effort into defending this server. Makes me feel bad for doing this."

"You say that Asuka, but it's been only ten minutes since you started… just how much of a monster are you?"

"I'm taking that one as a compliment." She said in a tone that made it clear that she was more interested in the information on her screen than on what he was saying. "Oh~ now that's interesting."

"What? What did you found?"

"Seems like no special team was deployed to deal with the terrorist. Anti-Skill was the one to take action, but there's probably more to it than just that."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because this report here mentions Kamijou Touma and the Imaginary Number District."

And thus, Hishiro made his way to a certain hospital in district 7 where the boy had been taken to after the incident. He didn't have any plan in mind, but was determined to take out some information from him. After all, it was clear by now that this boy wasn't your regular high school student, given that Hishiro was personally asked to rescue him the other day. _I bet he is either involved in the dark side, he is working under some higher up behind the curtains, or he is just really unlucky. And there's also what that nun said about him knowing about magic..._

But when he got there, the one he found wasn't Kamijou Touma. Right there, in front of the entrance of the hospital, staring into the horizon with a lonely face, was the nun in white habit with gold highlights, held together by countless pins - though today there seemed to be less pins than what he remembered, and her legs were exposed from her knees on.

Once Index noticed him coming, she quickly scrubbed her face on her sleeves and smiled gently. "Hi Hishiro. What a coincidence."

"Yeah… except not really. I came knowing you would be here. Or rather, I came looking for that boy." He said while scratching the back of his head, trying to approach her in a friendly way. "But I guess it's a bad moment to bring up a serious topic."

Index blushed a little and shook her head after rubbing her face one last time. "N-no, it's fine. It's just… that a friend I just made is gone and I don't know when we will meet again."

"Friend?" Hishiro narrowed his eyes hearing this. He knew she had her own life, but it was just impossible to brush off the fact that her mere presence was an irregularity, and the more people knew her, higher were the chances of it turning into a huge problem later on.

"Yes… but it would be better if you asked Touma about her. I don't know much about science, so it's difficult for me to explain. Is it okay for you to wait for him to come out?"

"Sure. Actually, there are a few things I wanted to talk about with you as well, if you don't mind."

…

They moved to a bench covered by a tree shade nearby so they could see the moment Touma left the building and drop the subject before he could hear it. That was what Index wanted to do right after the very first question Hishiro asked, which made her face frown out of worry. It almost made the boy feel bad, but it was a matter of life and death for him. And she was kinda to blame for it too. "The thing is, I'm afraid Academy City might be trying to arm up against something, and you did mention Rüdiger could be trying to start a war, so..."

"I see… Yes, Rüdiger said that Academy City was the one starting the conflict, but I doubt that."

"Why do you think so?"

"Today the city was attacked by a magician from the same division of the Anglican Church as me." She said, clearly feeling a little responsible over it for some reason. "We stopped her, but Touma mentioned that she said she wanted to start a war. The magic side is the one taking action here."

"Couldn't it be because of Academy City doing something to them behind the curtains?"

"If that was it, I would probably be called back to England. And there are just so many people in the city that knows about magic, while almost everyone in the world knows about science. The chances of the magic side trying to do something against the science is way higher than the other way around."

"That makes sense in a way but..." He forced himself to stop there. He had told Index once that someone among the heads of the city were on her side, but thinking back, this might be an optimistic assumption. The right way to interpret the fact that she was allowed inside the walls without the authorities and the dark side hunting her was that someone influential was benefiting from it. Maybe even trying to use her to start the war. The boy didn't want to drop this bombshell on her right now. "I mean, all that those magicians have done until now seemed to be random small scale attacks. What could these even do? I may be only looking at one side of the coin here, but what if the science side is preparing for a large scale attack while poking them until they make a big incident that can be used as an excuse to fight back?"

"No, these random attacks should be enough for an excuse already."

"Why? There were no casualties, and the damage they did was no more than what already happens around here on a daily basis."

"Listen. The balance between science and magic is fragile. We are in peace right now, but only because both sides agreed on following one single rule: noninterference. Merelly stepping in each other's territory is already risking setting the whole world into chaos."

"You mean, just like you did?"

Those words made her panic for a bit, much to Hishiro's amusement. "T-t-t-t-that was… I mean, I didn't had any choice back then! And everything worked out in the end so it's okay! Let's just forget about that!"

 _Hehe, I guess now I know why Asuka likes teasing me so much._ He made a slight smile that lasted only for a mere moment. "But nothing of the sort happened even after all these invasions."

"Someone might be dealing with this diplomatically, but..." She made a short pause and glanced at the hospital building. "There are a few wild cards that could make things turn for the worse if this keeps going."

"Which are?"

"People like you and Touma. In other words, the Exceptions."

"Oh right. I remember Rüdiger using that term… what does that even mean?"

"This noninterference pact between the two sides also involves not making any kind of research in each other's methods, tools, weapons, or anything developed by and for their own use. That includes not making any counter measures against anything I mentioned before, as a sign of mutual trust. So, for example, if a magician were to create a spell powerful enough to wipe out the whole population of Academy City from a safe distance, Academy City cannot study the particular spell to find a weakness and use scientific methods to avoid it, as is the magician forbidden to actually use it against the city. And that works both ways."

Choosing her words, she casted her eyes downwards and placed her right hand on the pin holding the cloth of her clothes on her left shoulder. "However… there are times that one side manages to create something that, by pure coincidence, could work as a countermeasure against the practices of the other. These are called the Exceptions. Like Touma's right hand, that is able to cancel any form of magic, and your powers, that caused that strange phenomena when it came into contact with Rüdiger attacks."

After taking some time to think over everything she said, Hishiro crossed his arms and asked "Why this is a problem then? That sounds pretty fair to me."

"Because there's always the risk that these were developed intentionally in secret, and it's extremely difficult to prove otherwise. That's why everytime one appears, the tension between the factions increase. And there are two of them in this city right now. And that's only the ones we know of. The great churches would never take the risk and attack based on that alone, but there are individuals and cabals that are not that prudent, or see an opportunity in the middle of all this to achieve their goals."

"Okay, I think I see where you're getting at. And I think the name 'Seed of Doubt' is kinda starting to make sense for me now. Even though that Touma was never called-"

 _*beep* *beep*_

Interrupted by the ringtone of his phone, Hishiro gave it a quick glance to check the name on the screen.

Bomb Maniac

 _Huh… who was that again? Ah right, that girl from ITEM. Geez, what could she be calling me for?_

Since his mind was focused in the conversation, he had completely forgot why he had given her his number in the first place. Annoyed by being interrupted, he harshly pressed the answer button and was about to shout at her, but he wasn't even given the chance to.

Frenda started talking the moment the call connected, desperately gasping for air as if she had ran a marathon, and the despair in her voice left hints that she had been crying just a moment before. "THANK GOODNESS YOU PICKED UP! Its _them_! They attacked me!"

 **Between the Lines**

It was around that time after the trip to the laboratory that the kids of the institution started to split in groups. The ones that were ranked higher would always walk together in their closed circle while the rest were more welcoming. Only the younger ones - me included, who didn't understand the meaning behind all that, kept acting as always. But that didn't last long…

Just before the winter, I noticed something was… off. I was watching the older kids playing soccer when the ball started making unusual movements. While I focused my eyes on it, I felt something like a shiver running through my whole body while the ball clearly slowed down when it got closer to the goal of the team I was rooting for. Without me noticing, one of the adults nearby saw what I was doing and then came later to talk to me in particular.

Even to this day, I don't get why they took so long to explain us about the Esper abilities. That talk was really the first I had ever heard of it. I have to admit I was a little happy to find out I had such power within me, even when the others started discovering their own one by one. And it was then that things started getting difficult.

It took me too long to notice that my body wasn't the same anymore. That shiver I felt every time I used my ability… it was unpleasant at first, but since the feeling was growing weaker every time, it didn't bother me that much. And that's exactly why I failed to see the problem. This shiver wasn't happening for no reason. My average body temperature was dropping fast. In a matter of days, I ended up falling sick because of it. Then I started using winter clothes before anyone else. As the weather grew colder and colder, I felt that I couldn't handle it like I used to, and it was already too late to do anything about it. I remember one day I had to crouch in the corner of the room, far from the windows, to even be able to keep myself awake while my body trembled in vain to warm up. I tried asking for help, but none of the kids took me serious and just laughed it off. Who knows what would have happened to me if one of the adults hadn't noticed that I was about to pass out and took me to a hospital.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by doctors saying incomprehensible things one after the other. All I could make out of it is that I had suddenly become a level 2, and this sudden growth was making my body suffer. But even when they were trying to help me and looked worried, I still felt something was off… and looking back now, I wasn't exactly wrong.

They gave me medication and made everything to keep me alive. Or rather, they only did that. Every night I would still feel miserable as I trembled beneath the blankets, trying to endure the pain in my hands and feet that felt just like if they were made of ice. The lack of sleep made me less active during the days, and the other children made fun of me because of that and for different treatment I was receiving from the grown ups, but I couldn't care less about that. In my state, I was thankful to be alive and being able to eat another warm meal every new day.

The winter ended, end even though my life wasn't in risk anymore, it never went back to normal. I still had to use winter clothes in the summer, while keeping distance from the others because they couldn't understand what was going on. But despite the loneliness, what scared me the most was the fact that it would happen again. In just a few months, the heat that kept me comfortable would go away, leaving me in that nightmare for a second time. I doubt I could make it again. Even if my body survived, my mind would collapse. The child me wasn't strong enough to endure that.

Or that's what would've happened if the situation hadn't changed.

One day, we woke up to find out that a sister institution had sent some of their children to our building because they were overcrowded. And among them was the person that would change my life forever.

* * *

 **Bleh… completely tripped over my promise this time. I knew that my life would get busy soon, so I tried my best to release this before it happened, but at some point I was just staring at the screen with no idea of what to do. I guess that's what they call writer's block? Maybe my hype for the third season of the anime had something to do with it, who knows… But that's past me now. Things are starting to settle down again and I finally managed to finish this.**

 **We now have another batch of new characters: the stupid classmate, the suspicious teacher, and the new members of the Golden Sages. You'll have to wait a bit to know more about the first two, but the magicians are going to take over the backstage right now. Unlike last time, the both of them will be taking action on screen, and I hope I can make them just as interesting as Rüdiger (which somehow had grown to become my favorite character if the fic… and no, this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I made him survive after getting beaten over and over again). Btw, there'll be some familiar faces appearing as well. Can't let the OCs take over the story completely, right?**

 **Replies:**

 **Guest: 1. Huh… you're right about that. It came out so naturally while I was writing that I didn't even notice. I guess that's a symptom of watching too much anime. I'll have to think what I'll going to do about that because I don't know if there's an English term to express the same thing, and in my mind, that is already part of the character's essence… if I don't find anything I'll just excuse this as "poetic license" and keep it as is.**

 **2\. Theoretically, yes. Most girls in the Toaru world are possible victims and there's no cure or vaccine for it yet, even though Saten and Kuroko seems to have a natural immunity to it (lol). But if the question were if she WILL… I just can't answer that yet.**

 **3\. Nope! Sorry if it felt like it! She joining in was supposed to be more of a double slap to his face than anything else, and of course, Asuka will tease him forever trying to ship them just for the heck of it. I don't think Hishiro would ever fall in love with a Level 5 or a look alike of them due to the what he had gone through because of them. It wouldn't be far fetched if he had some kind of PTSD by now. XP**

 **The crack shipping guy: Well, she's either important to the story or I'll be getting some sparks on my- I mean, I'll have some contract issues that has nothing to do with life threats at all. BUT right now, her role is mostly just increase New Pointer's man power, because trust me, they'll need it really soon.**

 **That will be it for now. Thanks for your support and sorry for making you all wait for so long. See you all next time!**


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